(1)Article 8 of the Constitution specifically provides that the arrest of a person in flagrante delicto shall be prescribed in other laws. Article 88, Paragraph 1, of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that a private citizen may engage in hot pursuit and arrest a person in flagrante delicto without a warrant. Article 88, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Procedure Code also provides that a person in flagrante delicto is a person who is discovered during the commission of an offense or immediately thereafter. Article 88, Paragraph 3, of the Criminal Procedure Code further provides that a person is considered to be in flagrante delicto if one of the following circumstances occurs: (a) He is pursued by people who say he is an offender; or (b) He is found in possession of a dangerous weapon, stolen property, or other items sufficient to warrant a suspicion that he is an offender, or his person or clothes show(s) traces of crime to warrant a suspicion that he is an offender. Therefore, a person in flagrante delicto referred to in Article 8 or other provisions of the Constitution includes a person considered to be in flagrante delicto under Article 88, Paragraph 3, of the Criminal Procedure Code. A person in flagrante delicto referred to in the Constitution shall not be construed to exclude a person considered to be in flagrante delicto under Article 88, Paragraph 3, of the Criminal Procedure Code because a person in flagrante delicto shall have one single meaning under the Constitution.
(2)While a person who is suspected to be an offender during a criminal investigation may be arrested by an officer based on a warrant issued in accordance with the law, any private citizen may also engage in hot pursuit and arrest a person in flagrante delicto without a warrant if the circumstances prescribed in Article 88, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Procedure Code occur. The privilege granted to a private citizen to engage in hot pursuit and arrest a person in flagrante delicto without a warrant under Article 88, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Procedure Code is not limited to offenses undetected by an officer with investigative authority. The primary purpose of enacting Article 88, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Procedure Code is to prevent an offender from fleeing or destroying criminal evidence. No limitation is set forth in that provision as to what type of offender a private citizen may engage in hot pursuit of and arrest in flagrante delicto without a warrant based on the privilege granted.
(3)While a bribe accepted by a public official in violation of his official duties is not stolen property as referred to under the offense of receiving stolen property under the Criminal Law, the bribe nevertheless shall be considered stolen property as prescribed in Article 88, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph 2, of the Criminal Procedure Code because it is illegally obtained. By accepting a bribe sufficient to warrant a suspicion that he is an offender, a public official may be considered to be a person in flagrante delicto and subject to the provisions set forth in Article 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
*Translated by Li-Chih Lin, Esq., J.D.