The founders of Formosa Magazine (including Huang Hsin-chieh, Hsu Hsin-liang, Annette Lu and Shih Ming-te), who were calling for freedom of speech and Taiwanese independence, were imprisoned as a result of the incident. They and their lawyers (including Frank Hsieh, Chen Shui-bian and Yu Ching) would devote themselves in following years to the struggle for democracy. All would later be among the founders of the Democratic Progressive Party.
當年因在高雄創辦「美麗島雜誌」，倡導言論自由和主張台灣獨立而身陷囹圄的人士，如黃信介、許信良、呂秀蓮、施明德等，和美麗島辯護律師群，如謝長廷、陳水扁、尤清等，日後更積極投入爭取民主的行動，催生了台灣的第二大黨民進黨。