2017, 9, 6
Reform for “Teen Law” needed to prevent cultivation of violent teen criminals
Violence against Busan middle school student, will we let such violent retaliation continue?
A photo of a middle school student in Busan beaten bloody by other students her age and made to kneel on the ground circulated on social media. The same student was the victim of another violent beating by the same perpetrators just two months earlier. In spite of this, the police let the offenders leave immediately.
Teens are taking advantage of the “Teen Law” to escape punishment. Incidences where students, after receiving a slap on the wrists, return to exact vengeance on their victims occur from time to time. This is all due in part because of the “Teen Law”.
The current “Teen Law” only allows 15 years’ imprisonment as the maximum punishment for crimes committed by minors under 18 that normally would be punishable by death or life in prison. Clauses in special homicide laws limit teen punishment to 20 years in prison in case of murder. However, teens are subject to special treatment more often than not as our convicts find it highly difficult to assimilate back into our society once they are given the scarlet letter.
In 2010 Seoul, teens beat and killed a peer over harsh words and threw the body into the Han River after cutting it apart. However, the offenders were only given 7 years in prison because they were teens. In 2011 Daejeon, 16 high school students raped a mentally challenged middle school girl, but these offenders were only subject to first, second, and fourth Teen Protection Clauses.
According to the “Teen Law”, the First Protection Clause gives supervision custody to legal guardians for a period of up to 6 months (one time only), the Second Protection Clause makes offenders take up to 100 hours of classes, and the Fourth Protection Clause is observatory protection for up to one year. In 2015 Yongin, a 9 year old girl threw a brick off an apartment building roof killing a woman in her 50s, but was not subject to any legal responsibility.
When it comes to homicide, there are differences depending on country, environment, culture, and ethnicity. In Korea, teen criminals are dealt with almost compassionate punishment. On the other hand, other countries have punishment clauses for teens and are steadily lowering the age for punishment.
In the US and UK especially, the law is strictly applied to make sure teens do not escape punishment depending of motive, violence, group involvement, and brutality.
Of course punishment is not always the answer. However, as can be seen in the Busan beating, crimes committed by teens are getting more violent and at younger ages. There is no need to extend benevolence to teens who have committed vile crimes. We must apply heavier punishment to violent criminals so as to prevent further victims in the future.