촉법소년 상한(형사미성년자) 연령 하향에 대한 비판적 고찰

Abstract

On October 26. 2022. the Ministry of Justice announced a plan to lower the age standard for criminal minors from 14 to 13 through the 「Preparation of Comprehensive Measures for Juvenile Crime」. The standard age for criminal minors, which has been set at 14 years old, is lowered for the reason that juvenile crimes have become more ferocious due to an increase in violent crimes by juveniles than in the past. However, when examining official statistics, the assertion that juvenile crime has become younger and more brutal is exaggerated. To generalize while emphasizing the seriousness of crimes against juveniles is to confine the crimes of juveniles to ‘hate’. If there is a need for a solution through criminal policy intervention for underage juveniles, lowering the age does not have to be a priority. Prior to that, it should be prioritized to seek and implement policies on how to intervene in the crimes of young children to prevent recidivism and prevent crimes. Since boys are the protagonists responsible for the future of our society, it is the shared responsibility of not only the boys themselves but also their families, schools, society, and the nation to develop the character and qualities necessary for them to grow as healthy members of society. In particular, in the case of young boys, efforts to establish measures that can be corrected and rehabilitated through education and counseling considering welfare should take precedence over severe punishment. Therefore, for young boys, it is important to prioritize treatment and education by refraining from strict punishment through lowering the age and uniform and formal treatment, finding the possibility of each boy and individualizing treatment. Therefore, in this paper, we reviewed whether the crimes of juvenile lawmakers are actually increasing and becoming more ferocious based on the statistics of each institution, and based on this, we propose appropriate measures to prevent crimes by juvenile lawmakers through comparison with overseas systems.