형사소송법상 공소시효제도의 개선방안

The statute of limitations is a law which forbids prosecutors from charging someone with a crime that was committed more than a specified number of years ago. After the period of the statute has run, the criminal is essentially free. The reasons for having statutes of limitations is as follows: As time passed, it is hard to find the substantive truth because memories fade away, physical evidence may be lost or contaminated, and witnesses are no longer available to testify for or against defendants; social criticism and concerns for the crime become undermined; the victim's anger is mitigated. However the development of scientific technology allows to obtain reliable evidence through DNA testing, restoration of documents and photos, and component analysis despite the passage of time. Also, even though time passes, the people's anger toward the crime is not allayed easily by several reasons such as extending the average life span and sharing the crime information based on advance of mass media. Questions are raised on whether the statute of limitations is reasonable in cases such as serial murder and child murder. Most developed countries such as United States, Germany, and France haven't a statute of limitations on serious crimes. Our neighboring country, Japan, also abolished statutes of limitations for some crimes by the revision of laws in 2010. Even in Korea, the national consensus has been formed it is unreasonable that persons who committed serious and brutal crimes are able to avoid prosecution and punishment for the passage of the duration determined by the criminal procedure law. In particular, it is alleged that a new statute of limitations should be examined in case of serious and brutal crimes, which led to abolish the statute of limitations on rape against children under the age of 13 or the disabled on the sexual violence special law. This dissertation first inquires into the statutes of limitations in Criminal Procedure Law and Special Criminal Law, and then examines the need for reform of the article 249 of Criminal Procedure Law which generally applies to all crimes. Futhermore, this paper attempts to study the different types of statutes of limitations and provide a direction for revision on the article 249 in Criminal Procedure Law.