한국의 개정 소년법의 주요내용과 동향

The Korean juvenile law, enacted on July 24th, 1958, has gone through the several amendments, and the latest amendment was made on December 21st, 2007. The new Amendment is considered not sufficient to resolve all problems in juvenile justices system including the high rate of second offences. We have to make a continued effort to develop the way for improvement of it and to do research on alternative models and advanced system such as diversion, balanced justice and restorative justice. Especially, the following american principle for juvenile justices is very suggestive in relation to the way for development of the Korean juvenile system: “Minor juvenile delinquency should be exempt from judicial procedure. Instead, family and society should provide protection and remedy to our juveniles for them to be able to return to the society. For the felony, strict countermove should be taken with due process guaranteed.”