아동복지법상 금지행위 규정에 대한 형사법적 검토

In child welfare studies, the history of modern child welfare in Korea is largely divided into four eras, and it is viewed as a child rights-centered welfare era from the revised Child Welfare Act in 2000 to the present. The Child Welfare Act revised in 2000 particularly emphasized coping with child abuse as part of the guarantee of children's rights. Thus, the definition of child abuse and four types of prohibited acts were defined: physical, sexual, emotional abuse, and abandonment and neglect. The definitions and types of prohibited acts considerably reflect the long-standing wishes of the child welfare academia. However, the Child Welfare Act requires criminal punishment for violating the prohibited acts, raising criminal legal issues. It is also problematic whether the unfamiliar concept of "emotional abuse" goes against the principle of clarity of criminal courtism. Fundamentally, the prohibited act regulations introduce the concept and type of "broad child abuse" in child welfare studies, raising the question of whether it is appropriate to punish all of them criminally. In my opinion, child abuse prohibition should be viewed as an independent criminal component that is different from the existing criminal component. However, the use of the broad definition regulations of child welfare studies as it is can lead to abuse of national penal rights, so it should be interpreted by limiting it to an act that significantly hinders the health and welfare of children, which is the protection legal interest of the above requirements.