소년 사이버범죄 추세에 따른 범죄억지력 제고방안

Abstract

The recent juvenile delinquency seems to be significantly influenced by rapidaugmentation of cyber-crimes (computer-based crimes on the Web). There are tworeasons why teenagers are apt to be involved with deviant acts in cyber-space. First,swiftly adapting to the latest technology of the information era, they acquire theability to access and use internet more easily than most adults. Second, they usuallydeal with various kinds of information floating on the Web without contemplationbased on sound value system, and therefore their response may be impulsive andextemporaneous. The result of analysis can be summarized as follows : while thepercentage of juvenile cyber-crimes in South Korea has been increasing at aremarkable rate, response measures against them have not been fully coordinated bythe law enforcement authorities and their attached institutions handling juvenile cases. Some problems that the current response system is posing are listed below. 66)First, the juvenile police officers, who confront offences first and initiate basicinvestigations, often fail to apply the appropriate clauses of relevant law because theyhardly have particular knowledge on internet crimes using the latest complicated skills. Therefore, they have a tendency of holding on to the precedented actions taken in thepast. Furthermore, the public prosecutor may handle the cyber-crimes in juvenile caseslike this for the same reason. Second, though there are alternatives for betterprotection of juvenile delinquents, the public prosecutors, for the most part, haveresponded to the cases charged by serious violation of criminal law with two ways oftreatments. The one is a criminal punishment of offenders by means of bringing acase to the juvenile court. The other is a reprieve of indictment as a kind of non-prosecution, or a suspension of prosecution. But it can't be denied that thesetraditional penal treatments are not effectively preventing the juvenile offenders fromrecommitting the similar kind of cyber-crimes. Third, in some cases, the juvenileoffenders deserve to be protected rather punished. They are then transferred to socialservice institutions like the Juvenile Classification Offices or probation facilities forprotection and rehabilitation. But the protection cases also have been handled withoutgetting out of the existing triangle frame of treatment - home, school, and society.