형사책임연령과 소년법 개정 논의에 대한 비판적 고찰

As juvenile offences have attracted attention recently, there is a growing distrust of public opinion regarding the criminal responsibility age and Juvenile Act. The public opinion and legislative trends on juvenile offences can be summarized as expanding the age group for criminal punishment and strengthening criminal sanctions. The Juvenile Act complements the criminal minors provision in Article 9 of the Criminal Code by setting the age concerning juveniles separately from the Criminal Code. This restricts the scope and extent of state’s involvement in those aged minors, as well as extends it. In other words, the Juvenile Act is not a law aimed at protecting them from receiving any criminal sanctions, but a law aimed at demanding reflection and reaction to their action by means of protective disposition or punishment. Therefore, the revision of Juvenile Act, such as adjustment of juvenile age and strengthening punishment, should be systematically examined with the relationship with the Criminal Code in mind. From this point of view, the need to downgrade the age of criminal minors is not recognized. This is because there is no reason to judge that their judgment ability is mature enough or that they have more appropriate characteristics for punishment than those of the past. Also, crimes committed by them are not serious in quantity and quality comparing to those of the past, and criminal sanctions are possible under the Juvenile Act even under the current age system. On the other hand, considering the fact that the revision of the Criminal Code raised the period of imprisonment, the provisions of the Juvenile Act also need to be revised accordingly.