양형기준의 시행에 대한 평가와 개선방향

The Sentencing Guideline Committee under the Supreme Court has established a set of guidelines for 15 groups of crimes for the last 4 years and is working on guidelines for additional 8 groups of crimes. Despite the fact that this system has been enforced just for a short time and the guidelines need to be improved in some aspects, it is clear that the guidelines will enhance the transparency and objectivity of sentencing. Recent statistics shows that the courts are rather closely following the given guidelines. Following are the general evaluation and proposals for improvement. One good thing about the guidelines is their individual and gradual approach,however, various sentencing factors should be more closely considered. Verdicts should include the reasons for the amount of sentence with the unified formats of the statements though the guidelines have no binding force. Furthermore, the guidelines should be restructured according to the principles of criminal law. Standards for fines are needed to be set up as well. Officers working for the guidelines may inevitably have to belong to courts. They should work under the command of the Supreme Court and be changed into full time officers for more efficiency.