민영소년원 도입추진과 설립운영의 형사정책

Abstract

Since South Korea has introduced a private prison (Somang Correctional Institution). Somang, the only privately-managed prison in Asia, in the year of 2010, the Ministry of Justice now announces its plan to introduce a private juvenile protection institution. While the Somang Prison manages its inmates to spend daytime learning vocational skills and participating in church activities, most of its correctional programs focus on rehabilitation, not punishment. The idea of more humane and effective correction, which has allegedly been realized here, is now planning to be adopted into the project of privatizing juvenile protection institutions. In cases where it is necessary to order protective detention of a juvenile as a result of a juvenile trial, the judge may make disposition to entrust a juvenile concerned for the care and custody to a child welfare institution under the Child Welfare Act or other juvenile protection institution, or to entrust a juvenile concerned to a juvenile medical care and protection institution. Firstly, the privatization of juvenile protection institution under discussion is to be based on the positive assessment on the rehabilitative works of the existing private prison. Secondly, the issue of ‘overcrowding prison’ may not has its political priority in the introduction of private juvenile protection institutions, as the youth-political focus should be put on the effectiveness of correction on juveniles. Thirdly, juvenile protection institutions may have a priority in the policy of privatization, for their role of rehabilitating juveniles with proper facilities and programs. What is matter at the planning of private juvenile protection institution is both to secure support from government to fully realize its correctional programs and to allow its independence from government in its development of new juvenile justice models.