초록 열기/닫기 버튼

소년사법에 관한 국제인권법은 아동의 자유 박탈이 아동의 건전한 발달에 심각한 악영향을 미칠 수 있음을 강조하며, 이를 엄격히 제한하도록 요구하고 있다. 특히 아동권리협약을 포함하여 국제인권준칙들은 아동의 자유 박탈에 관련하여 기본 원칙들을 제시하고 있는데, 불법적이거나 자의적인 아동의 자유 박탈을 금지할 것, 아동의 자유 박탈은 최후의 수단으로만 그리고 최소한의 적합한 기간 동안에만 사용될 것, 그리고 자유가 박탈된 아동은 인간적인 처우를 보장받을 것이 바로 그것이다. 이러한 기본 원칙들이 효과적으로 실현되기 위해서 국제인권준칙들은 당사국으로 하여금 다음과 같은 사항들을 법제화하도록 요구하고 있다. 예를 들면, 아동의 미결구금과 관련하여 그 구금에 대한 기준을 입법화할 것, 법률조력인의 도움을 받고 그 구금에 대하여 항고할 수 있도록 할 것, 이러한 항고가 신속히 결정될 수 있도록 구체적인 타임라인을 설정할 것, 구금된 아동에 대한 인간적인 처우 보장을 위하여 독립적이고 전문적인 모니터링 기구에 의해 정기적인 시설 및 처우 점검을 실시할 것 등이 포함된다. 안타깝게도 아동의 자유 박탈과 관련한 우리의 소년사법제도는 국제인권준칙에서 요구하는 수준에 부합하지 못하고 있다. 우리 소년분류심사원 감호제도를 중심으로 살펴보면, 국제인권준칙들이 엄중히 규율하는 아동의 자유 박탈에 관한 기본 원칙들이 관련 법령에 명시되어 있지 아니함은 물론이거니와 이러한 이념들이 현실에서도 충분히 존중되지 못하고 있다. 소년분류심사원 감호결정과 관련하여 그 기준이 법제화되어 있지 않고 있을 뿐만 아니라 감호결정에 대한 항고제도도 마련되어 있지 아니하다. 소년분류심사원 감호처분은 일반형사사건 및 소년형사사건에서의 미결구금과 비교하여 보았을 때 상당히 높은 수준으로 나타났다. 더욱 심각한 점은 소년분류심사원 수용 중에 상당수의 위탁소년들이 심각한 인권 침해를 경험하였다고 진술한다는 것이다. 그럼에도 불구하고 객관적이고 전문적인 감시기구가 존재하지 않아 이러한 인권 침해 사실에 대한 정확한 사실 확인이 어렵다는 사실이다. 따라서 본 논문은 우리의 소년분류심사원 감호제도의 개선을 위하여 전술한 세 가지 기본 원칙들, 즉 아동의 자유 박탈은 불법적이거나 자의적이어서는 안 된다는 원칙, 아동의 자유 박탈은 최후의 수단으로만 그리고 최소한의 적합한 기간 동안만 사용되어야 한다는 원칙, 자유가 박탈된 아동은 인간적인 처우를 받을 수 있어야 한다는 원칙을 명문으로 규정할 것을 촉구하였다. 이러한 원칙들이 실현될 수 있도록 하여 위하여 소년분류심사원 감호에 관련한 결정기준의 법제화, 소년분류심사원 감호결정에 대한 항고제도 마련, 이러한 항고와 관련하여 변호인의 조력을 받을 수 있는 권리 및 신속한 결정을 위해 구체적인 타임라인 설정, 독립적이고 전문적인 감시기구에 의한 정기적인 시설 및 처우 조사 실시를 위한 입법적 개선방안도 강조하였다.


International human rights law regarding juvenile justice emphasizes that deprivation of children's liberty has a very negative effect on children's harmonious development and requires that states parties take appropriate measures to strictly regulate deprivation of children's liberty. International human rights standards, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, provide the basic principles of deprivation of children's liberty: prohibition of unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of children's liberty, detention of children only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, and humane treatment of children deprived of their liberty. To effectively implement the basic principles, international human rights law of juvenile justice requires state parties to enact standards to decide pretrial detention of children in conflict with the law, to protect the right to appeal and the right to have a legal or other appropriate assistance to the children under pretrial detention, to set up time-lines for the right to appeal, and to establish a professional and impartial body to regularly monitor detention facilities and treatment of detained juveniles. Unfortunately, the Korean juvenile justice system fails to comply with the international human rights standards of juvenile justice. The basic principles which the international human rights law has confirmed has not been implemented by Korean laws and practices of detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards. The standards to decide whether juveniles are detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards are not legally provided. Korean legislation does not protect the right to appeal for the juveniles detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards. The rate of detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards is higher than the rate of pretrial detention regarding regular criminal cases and juvenile criminal cases. What is worse, considerable numbers of juvenile who had been detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards answered that they had experienced serious human rights violations during their detention. However, the Korean juvenile justice system does not run a monitoring system for humane treatment of the detained juveniles and, therefore, it is not possible to understand the exact situation regarding inhuman treatment of the detained juveniles. Accordingly, this article asserts that Korean legislation should clearly provide the above-mentioned three basic principles of deprivation of children's liberty: the principle to ban unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of children's liberty, the principle to use deprivation of children's liberty only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period time, and the principle to protect humane treatment of the children deprived of their liberty. To practically implement these principles, this article requests the enactment of standards to decide detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards, the protection of the right to appeal with regard to detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards, the respect of the right to have a legal or appropriate assistance with regard to the right to appeal, the setting-up of time-lines for the right to appeal, and the establishment of a monitoring system to regularly examine Juvenile Classification Review Boards and juveniles detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards.


International human rights law regarding juvenile justice emphasizes that deprivation of children's liberty has a very negative effect on children's harmonious development and requires that states parties take appropriate measures to strictly regulate deprivation of children's liberty. International human rights standards, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, provide the basic principles of deprivation of children's liberty: prohibition of unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of children's liberty, detention of children only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, and humane treatment of children deprived of their liberty. To effectively implement the basic principles, international human rights law of juvenile justice requires state parties to enact standards to decide pretrial detention of children in conflict with the law, to protect the right to appeal and the right to have a legal or other appropriate assistance to the children under pretrial detention, to set up time-lines for the right to appeal, and to establish a professional and impartial body to regularly monitor detention facilities and treatment of detained juveniles. Unfortunately, the Korean juvenile justice system fails to comply with the international human rights standards of juvenile justice. The basic principles which the international human rights law has confirmed has not been implemented by Korean laws and practices of detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards. The standards to decide whether juveniles are detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards are not legally provided. Korean legislation does not protect the right to appeal for the juveniles detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards. The rate of detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards is higher than the rate of pretrial detention regarding regular criminal cases and juvenile criminal cases. What is worse, considerable numbers of juvenile who had been detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards answered that they had experienced serious human rights violations during their detention. However, the Korean juvenile justice system does not run a monitoring system for humane treatment of the detained juveniles and, therefore, it is not possible to understand the exact situation regarding inhuman treatment of the detained juveniles. Accordingly, this article asserts that Korean legislation should clearly provide the above-mentioned three basic principles of deprivation of children's liberty: the principle to ban unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of children's liberty, the principle to use deprivation of children's liberty only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period time, and the principle to protect humane treatment of the children deprived of their liberty. To practically implement these principles, this article requests the enactment of standards to decide detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards, the protection of the right to appeal with regard to detention in Juvenile Classification Review Boards, the respect of the right to have a legal or appropriate assistance with regard to the right to appeal, the setting-up of time-lines for the right to appeal, and the establishment of a monitoring system to regularly examine Juvenile Classification Review Boards and juveniles detained in Juvenile Classification Review Boards.