사면제도의 적절한 운영방안에 관한 연구 - 사면심사위원회 등에 의한 통제를 중심으로 -

Abstract

More than 2,490 people were pardoned under a special pardon August 15, 2010. Also a large number of people was grants amnesty and reinstated on national holiday. Because a general pardon and special pardon are the president's right under the Constitution. Specially a general pardon of these nullifies all sentences handed down for certain violations and needs parliamentary approval. But abuse of pardoning power, especially abuse of special pardoning power can demolish the basis of rule of law which is a important part of the constitutionalism. What is worse, in most cases involving chaebols and politician, experts say, the president eventually pardons the offense, resulting in them getting off scot-free from their crimes. A case in point is a proposal, Kim Hyun-hee, pinpointed as the culprit, is now living in Seoul under protection from the NIS, after being exempted from the death penalty in 1990. But the existing pardon law is specified just about contents and prescribe a few procedures with rational specifications which can limit and those who are pardoned. Therefore the purpose of this article is to study the contents and present condition of Korea pardon system, to analyze its problems and to suggest specific improvement measures to prevent the abuse of pardon power. Despite these developments, it is desirable that pardon committee is established to review appropriateness of pardon as a result of abuse of pardoning power at the time of revision of pardoning law in Dec. 2007. And then, it is necessary to revise pardon law as follows; for example, the pardon object restriction based on a pardon elimination regulation and a progress period restriction must prescribe according to the pardoning law. The ultimate purpose of these institutionalizations is to check the abuse of the pardon power of the president.