소년범죄 현상에 관한 연구

Abstract

The recent trend of juvenile crime is quite different from the past. Juveniles are very much exposed to obscene materials distributed by the Internet and broadcasting media, and they become more isolated due to the expansion of cultural individualism and anonymity, which increases their involvement in drug abuse and non-motivated violent crime. This study attempted to perform the analysis on the quantitative and qualitative change of juvenile crime. The analyses on the quantitative change of it discovered that the number of juvenile crime, particularly that of robbery, rape, and theft has increased since 2005, which was an opposite trend to the past decade during which juvenile crime had decreased very steeply. The analyses on the qualitative change of juvenile crime discovered several notable findings. The average age is getting younger. The recidivism rate appeared to have decreased until 2005, but after the year it has been increasing. Sexual crime of 2007 was 60% more than that of 2005. Non-motivated crime causing serious harm is sometimes taking place. And, school violence and drug abuse has increased to the level requiring more attention. The ultimate purpose of studying juvenile crime is to help public and private institutions dealing with juvenile issues develop rational and efficient policies to prevent juvenile crime and get rid of criminal environment. Prevention of juvenile crime cannot be made successfully only by the efforts of the police. It requires the participation of family, school, and the whole community, and the reformation of juvenile justice system such as the operation of restorative justice programs will be needed. Only such a comprehensive and systematic approach will be able to accomplish the goal of juvenile crime prevention.