외국인 범죄피해자 지원 실태 및 개선방안: 범죄피해자지원센터를 중심으로

Abstract

Foreigners are particularly vulnerable to victimization by crimes. Despite this fact, in Korea, not much attention has been accorded to the reality of crime victimization of foreigners and the support and protection currently available for foreign victims of crimes. To address this issue, this study looks into the protection and support for foreign victims of crimes that are currently provided by such institutions as Crime Victim Support Centers, and carries out a case study on crime victimization of foreigners to identify the issues with the current support and protection policies for foreign victims of crimes and possible ways to improve them. This study analyed the data on support provided to 87 foreign victims of crimes by 59 Crime Victim Support Centers across Korea for a two-year period (2015 and 2016). In 2015 and 2016, the percentage of victims of foreign crime among all new applicants of Crime Victim Support Centers across Korea were 0.8%(97foreigners) and 0.7%(77foreigners), respectively. This ratio is very low compared with the ratio of foreigners staying at 4% or more. In order to expand the protection and support of foreign victims of crimes, it is necessary to improve support policies, such as the promotion of notice and guidance of crime victims support system in police investigation, support for foreign victims of crimes committed by foreigners, and support for foreign victims of crimes in illegal staying.