현행 소년법의 문제점과 개선방안

Abstract

This paper is to study some problems of the Korean Juvenile Act and tries to make some proposals for it's improvement and modification. Nowadays there are some suggestions regarding age levels which the Act sets concerning juvenile delinquents according to the developmental stages of children. While the suggestions are mostly to seek more effective ways of coping with the juvenile offenders based on the educational and rehabilitative ideas, some proposals show that the ideas is now on the way of transformation from the classical as pirauon of making children moreeducated and more adaptable to the society to a strategy of 'getting tough' to the juvenil edelinquents. And it is commonly noted that the Act has some weakness of achieving its goals, and the available measures it deploys have some problems for attaining its purposes. Concerning the problems of the procedural system of the Act: The Juvenile Act gives the intake initiatives of deciding whether the juvenile offenders are transferred to luvenilc court orcriminal court to the prosecutors(the prosecutor initiative system). This way of intake of the Juvenile Act is largely criticiaed on the ground that the prosecutors are usually apt to think that punishmentis more effective or suitable to the juvenile offenses which resulted in serious injuries than educational or other non-punitive treatments are. and secondly it is usually pointed out that there are not enough supportive personnels and facilitles available for prosecutors to investigate which measure is best for the juvenile of fenders. This paper proposes that the Intake initiatives would rather be given to the juvenile court. The treatment measures that the Juvenile Act deploys have themselves some difficulties to juvenile to the parents or other guardians who care the juvenile on behalf of the parents is evaluated as little effective, but if volunteer guardians are more likely to deployed and more available, the code 1 measure will be a more meaningful way of treatment of the juvenil edelinquents .The so-called code 2 measures, that is, the short- and long-term probations, are pointed out to be facing with chronic descits of personnel and facilities. Intensive probations are also diagnosed as having the same difficulties. This paper considers it as a way of confronting with these difficulties to mobilize civil resources. The code 4 and 5 measure, entrusting the juvenile to the welfare institutions or hospitals bear the same burdens This paper proposes that govement should have more institutions founded and worked by financial and other supports As another way of facing with that difficulties it is considered that the Juvenile Deterntion center may be deployed as a surrogate welfare institutions before welfare facilities are ready enough. The code 6 and 7 measures short- and long-term accommodation of the juvenile int eh Juvenile Detention Center have a problem that the Act permits the director of the Center to decide the duration of accommodation of the juvenile especiallt in case of long-term one This pater recommend thar it be decided by a jucenile court Another problem concerning the Juvenile are incarcrated with other juvenile who have better prognosis For this case the more deliberate and miute intake process is requried with support of investigation facilities