형집행에 관한 새로운 입법정책적 접근의 필요성에 대하여: 독일 연방 및 개별 주의 형집행법을 중심으로

On the premise of the existence of prison sentences, there are different ways of treating prisoners with a view to the protection of their human rights and the aim of social reintegration. In South Korea, the Penal Execution Act, which was enacted on 2 March 1950, implemented the fundamental principle that all correctional treatments have to guarantee the protection of human rights and the resocialization of the prisoners. Education programmes, job training, and work, for example, enhance the ability of the inmates to reintegrate into the society. By comparison, the German federal and state laws regarding penal executions regulate the execution of prison sentences in penal institutions and the measures of rehabilitation and prevention involving any other deprivation of liberty. Furthermore, the rules set up the general principle that the execution of prison sentences shall protect the general public and the victim. For these purposes, the federal and state laws on the penal execution in Germany provide various treatment programmes designed to meet individual needs, for example, the detention in closed or open institutions, the transfer to socio-therapeutic institutions, the formation of residential and treatment groups, the possibility to obtain elementary and secondary education, vocational training measures, various forms of social or other training programmes and work, etc. The execution of prison sentences should be based on a dispassionate and realistic analysis of the nature of the particular crime, the individual perpetrator, the background of the crime and the different possibilities of how the interests of the actual and potential future victims and the society as a whole can be served best. The existence of various correctional treatments for resocialization, which respect the human rights of the prisoners, can render the penal execution more useful in practice. This article analyses the rules for the penal execution in German federal and state laws relating to “Open and Closed Institutions, Relaxation of Conditions of Imprisonment, Leave from Custody, Preparations for Release” etc., focusing on the various methods for the successful resocialization of prisoners. In conclusion, this article contributes to the establishment of a new legislative policy for a more progressive system of penal execution in South Korea.