학대 피해 노인의 형사절차상 권리 보호 및 지원방안에 관한 논의 - 노인복지법 개정을 중심으로 -

Abstract

Recently, as the incidence of elder abuse cases have been increasing, measures to prevent and respond to elder abuse are being prepared, centering on Elder Protection Agency. In particular, with the revision of the Welfare of Senior Citizens Act in 2017, all operators and workers of senior welfare facilities(besides senior citizen centers and senior classes) were obligated to complete human rights education. In this regard, interest in elderly`s human rights including elder abuse will rise in the upcoming super-aged society. Meanwhile, elder abuse is distinguished from other human rights’ issues in that it is about a crime. In other words, the elderly victims of abuse have a status as victims of crime under criminal law. If the increasing trend of elder abuse continues, the number of elderly victims of abuse who directly or indirectly involved in criminal proceedings will also expected to increase. However, the elderly victims of abuse are likely to have considerable difficulties in realizing their rights as victims in the criminal proceedings due to their demographic and sociological characteristics. For example, they may have considerable difficulties in understanding legal terms, obtaining information on victim support, and communicating with criminal justice institutions. Therefore, in order for the elderly victims of abuse to realize their rights as victims, it is necessary to systematically reorganize a system to protect and support their rights in the course of criminal procedures. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted on the protection and support of the rights of the elderly victims of abuse in the criminal proceedings. Therefore, this study attempted to review the rights of the elderly victims of abuse in the criminal proceedings under the current law and to identify the problems. In addition, based on this, improvement measures were proposed to efficiently protect and support the rights of the elderly affected by abuse. Specifically, establishment of regulations on the role of assistants, expanding the scope of crimes related to elder abuse, establishing special rules for the appointment of victims' lawyers, statements assistants, (emergency) temporary measures, protection order for elderly victims and notification regulations were proposed with the amendments. Through these alternatives, it is expected that the rights of the elderly victims of abuse will be more actively realized in the process of criminal proceedings.