음주운전죄에 대한 비판적 고찰 - 입법적 개선방안을 중심으로 -

There is a high social consensus that drunk driving should be punished strongly. In response, the National Assembly passed the revision of the Road Traffic Act intensifying the penalties for drunken driving. However, this revision also does not cover the fundamental issues of the crime of drunken driving, but only focuses on strengthening punishments. This paper aims to consider problems, which may occur when analyzing and applying the current drunken driving-related law and come up with legislative proposals for improving these problems. The problems of the current drunken driving-related law are as follows. First, under the current law, drunken driving is defined as a deliberate offense. Nevertheless, in most cases, drunken driving is established even when there is only a willful recognition and this is acknowledged as criminal negligence. Second, considering the legislative purpose, the plea of mental disabilities caused by drinking must not be accepted for the crime of drunken driving, but it is not expressly stipulated in the relevant law. For this reason, there is an interpretative problem. Third, the statutory minimum sentence is excessively high, even though there is a need for harsh punishment for drunken driving. In the light of the relation with other crimes, appropriate statutory penalties must be set. In order to resolve these problems, this study suggests some legislative proposals. To begin with, in terms of the blood alcohol concentration, it is required to acknowledge the establishment of the drunken driving crime even when drunken driving takes place due to negligence, not intentionally. Also, an express legislation excluding the regulations on mitigation for mental disabilities is needed. In this regard, there is a need to consult the existing laws with similar purposes of regulations. Lastly, regulations regarding precautions for prevention, not for ex-post punishments for drunken driving must be established.