earticle

영어

Despite the severity of child abuse in Korea, issues on child abuse have been relatively neglected in the shadow of other social issues. Due to the fact that the most of child abusers (“abuser”) are child’s parents or guardians, abusing acts have been considered mere domestic issues or child discipline issues as child abuse and neglect were interpreted in the view of child welfare and focused on protections of original family. Minimal interventions of national justice system and marginal criminal punishment on abusers caused by above reasons are often pointed as causes for the severity of child abuse and neglect. Governments have not made any noticeable efforts to correct the situations, and many children died of abuse and neglect in recent years. News on such inexcusable deaths, which have spread to general public through media, were an renewed awakening on severity of child abuse and neglect to the Korean society. As negative public sentiments turned to blame government’s indifference to the issue, public opinions demanded enactment of more stringent law that can impose more severe punitive measures and can entice government’s proactive interventions to prevent harms from abusers and to protect victimized children. In response to such public opinion, the National Assembly of Korea has legislated Act on Special Cases Concerning Punishments etc. of Crimes of Child Abuse and Neglect (Law Number 12341 enacted on January 28, 2014) on December 31, 2013 and additionally amended Child Welfare Act (Law Number 12361 partially amended on January 28, 2014.) The said acts are waiting to be implemented on September 29, 2014. The Act consists of 6 main articles and 64 supplementary provisions. The Act clarified that child abuse and neglect is a criminally culpable crime by utilizing a term, “Crimes of Child Abuse and Neglect.” (Article 2.4) On the other hand, the Act stipulates numerous special cases on criminal procedures in order for ‘protection of abused child.’ Some improvements were especially promising for prompt and appropriate disposal of child abuse cases and protection of abused child. Such promising improvements include expansive introduction of protective measures for abused child and prompt severance of abused child and abuser by intervention of child protection agencies and law enforcement officers at the initial stage of child abuse. The Act has some rooms to improve on following areas. First, because protection of original family is emphasized in children welfare, procedures to reflect abused child’s will must be established in order to protect child’s human rights even if required actions are protective measures for abused child. Second, the Act must be managed to focus on correction and reformation of abuser’s characters and behaviors rather than imposition of criminal punitive measures. Lastly, because authorities of child protection agencies have been significantly expanded in investigation and intervention of child abuse and neglect, systems for effective operations and prevention of abuse of authorities must be established.