Taiwan's justice system is buckling under a wave of fraud and money-laundering cases, bad news for anyone waiting on a court ruling.

• New criminal cases in district courts jumped 36% over five years, while judge numbers rose just 3%.
• Organized fraud and money-laundering cases are the main driver, and they are eating up most of the court system's time.
• People convicted under money-laundering laws went from a few hundred a year to nearly 19,000.
• Each judge now handles about 68 new cases a month, up 31%.
• Lawmakers are pushing a change to criminal procedure rules to fast-track simple cases and cut repeated paperwork, saving court time for complicated ones.

Outlook: Expect the reform bill to move forward, but without a lot more staff the backlog will likely keep growing.