성범죄사건의 실무적 쟁점- 영상녹화물 증거 제도와 전문심리위원 제도를 중심으로

Abstract

Study on Practical Issues of Sex Crime Trials- Concerning the Video Recording Interrogation Systemand the Expert-Commissioner Participation System Hong, Jin-young·Bom, Sun-yoon The success of a sex crime trials depends on whether it leads to a just conclusion by finding substantial truth, through a procedure ensuring the defendant's right to defense, while at the same time providing an utmost protection to the victim. For the last ten years, efforts have been made to improve institutions to enhance the protection of victims in sex crime trials. The video recording interrogation system, in particular, is a representative institution introduced to reduce secondary victimization of victims, by minimizing repetition of their statements along the procedure. Nevertheless, even after its introduction, many victims still had to repeat their testimonies in the court, resulting in a severe emotional distress on their part. This problem is due to the fact that, in addition to the technical issues of implementation, the video recording interrogation system was legislated and implemented without fully putting in place measures to ensure the defense rights of the defendants. It contained several technical problems as well. Meanwhile, judges in charge of sex crime trials have been making efforts to ensure the defendants' rights and to judge the credibility of victims' statements prudently, by having expert-commissioners analyze victims' statements with their expertise in psychology. However, the implementation of expert-commissioner participation system too leaves room for improvement. Based on the analysis of the outcome of survey of judges in charge of sex crime trials in 2013, this article gives an overview of the substance and chronology of video recording interrogation system and the expert-commissioner participation system, as well as offering a review of where the systems stand and how they can be improved. The article concludes by proposing various ways to improve the video recording interrogation system along the interrogation and trial stages, including granting an opportunity to suspects to defend against victims' statements in the early investigation stage. As for the expert-commissioner's participation system, this article argues not only for recruiting more expert candidates and raising public awareness of the system, but also for an expert participation in courtrooms to avoid controversy on the admissibility of evidence.