헌법재판소 결정을 통해 살펴본 성범죄자 신상공개제도의 비판적 검토 - 2013년 결정을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The System of sex offender notification has expanded its scope in terms of types of sexual crimes, scope of information to be notified and the people who are subject to the notification whenever the law is revised. Though the history of the system is short, it has been subject to many changes. As it has been valid for 6 years since the sex offender notification started in Internet, now it needs the critical review. There are some differences in the view of the system of sex offender notification between general people and the legal scholars. General people are interested on how much the crimes have been reduced due to the system while the legal scholars are more interested in whether the system is constitutional or not. The record on the trend of sexual crimes against the children and youth for the past 6 years shows that the number of sexual crimes has continuously increased except in 2012. But as the sexual crimes are related to various elements, it is hard to find out how much the system has made effect in the reduction in the crime. This study tries to compare and review the characteristics of the systems of sex offender notification, based on the two verdicts made by the Constitutional Court with regard to the constitutionality of the decisions. During the past 10 years, the system has undergone a lot of changes in terms of methods of providing the information, scope of information and target crimes. When it comes to the review of constitutionality, there have been differences in main disputed items. These disputes were reviewed here from the perspectives of principles of equality, due process, double jeopardy, and less restrictive alternative. The findings of the results show that although the system of the sex offender notification does not violate any due process, there needs a discussion on the possible violation of the principle of equality in the group of sex offenders other than the other criminal groups. When it comes to the principle of double jeopardy, there are severe disputes going on between scholars. The focus should be made on the substance that it is the actual punishment rather than on the form such as whether it is the punishment or just a security measure. Lastly, when it comes to the less restrictive alternative, the system of sex offender notification is likely to violate the basic right of human if it is done in Internet as now and it may be against with the principles of the suitability of means and the less restrictive alternative. Although it is evident that the children, youth and local community should be protected from sex offenders, it seems to be hard to prevent the sex crime using the current system of sex offender notification. So, for the establishment of effective system, it looks effective to identify the sex offenders into high risk group and low risk group for the scope of notification and the target person. In addition to the evidence-based government's policy, the general people should actively participate in the effort to prevent the sex crime.