개정 소년법과 소년사법의 효율성

Abstract

This study focuses upon the some problems in the 4th juvenile law amendment. The categories of this criticism are the juvenile ciurt dispositions, the object of protection cases and the theory of the criminal law(esp. juvenile law). Since the 3rd juvenile law amendment in 1988, many theoretical and practical problems of the juvenile law have been exposed. So some reformative approaches have been suggested in order to overcome those problems in the juvenile justice processing. That is to say: First, the term of juveniles as the object of the juvenile law should be defined more accurately by the age when he/she commits crime. Second, the worrying juveniles should be excluded from the object of protection cases. Third, the pre-trial diversion programs should be grounded in the juvenile law. Fourth, juveniles should have a right to appeal to the order of transfer to the prosecutor by the juvenile court and the prosecutor ought to follow the decisions of the juvenile court. Fifth, the causes of juvenile detention should be accurately regulated and diverse facilities such as foster home, juvenile welfare facility, juvenile discipline facility could be available as juvenile detention center. Sixth, a comprehensive juvenile investigation agency should be established and more resources ought to be invested in juvenile investigation. Seventh, provisions to protect the constitutional right and due process should be inserted in the juvenile law. The public defender and the criminal compensation for the petitioned juvenile should be introduced in the juvenile law. To solve these problems, recently in the year 2007, the juvenile law has been reformed. Through this amendment, the some theoretical and practical problems in the juvenile law disposition have the chance to been get rid of. But this revised juvenile law is not yet enough to overcome the other problems. For example, the jurisdiction problems in juvenile cases, the object of protection cases, short term(1 month) transferring to training school etc. More and continuous efforts to solve these problems are strongly needed.