Consideration of Policies Designed to Prevent Sexual Assault CRIMES against Children with Disabilities in KOREA

Abstract

Korea has strengthened inspection of respective social welfare facilities and schools for handicapped and disabled across the country in response to the emergence of sexual assault crime against children with disabilities as a social issue. Children with disabilities often find it painful to live with disabilities, but are unable to protect or defense themselves or are sometimes unaware that they are being victimized due to their mental illnesses and physical disabilities, etc. Even if when they want to claim that they have fallen victim to by sexual assault crime, they do not know how to come forward and make their cases. Another problem is that perpetrators of sexual assault crime against children with disabilities are not punished and that compensation and treatment are not provided properly to those children, the victims of sexual assault crimes. In addition, sexual assault crimes committed against children with disabilities pose many problems in whole processes until the cases are closed. To resolve such problems, the priority would need to be given to understanding the specificity of children with disabilities in the process of crime cases. Efforts need to be made constantly to establish the system ensuring thorough investigation and imposing strong punishment on perpetrators of sexual assault crime against children with disabilities and to improve human rights for persons with disabilities. Thus, this study was intended to identify current status and problems of sexual assault crimes perpetrated against children with disabilities and to propose measures at policy level for prevention of such sexual assault crimes. When the sexual assault crime against children with disabilities was brought up as a social issue, it was possible to see controversies swirling and then subsiding over time. Therefore, long-term policies need to be mapped out constantly for prevention of sexual assault crimes, instead of one-time countermeasure, to fundamentally resolve the issue of sexual assault crimes perpetrated against children with disabilities. For the purpose, first of all, it is necessary to understand the specificity of children with disabilities and reflect it in the process where cases of such crimes are handled. Additionally, more stringent punishment and expeditious and precise investigation would be needed in making response to sexual assault crime against children with disabilities. Moreover, the new government would need to devise comprehensive measures in parallel with practical support through amendment of Social Welfare Service Act so as to ensure human right protection for children with disabilities.