영국의 2020년 양형법 제정과 그 시사점

Enhancing public trust in the criminal justice system through fair and objective sentencing is a common goal of sentencing in any country. To this end, sentencing procedure must be transparent, accessible, and easily comprehensible to the public. However, laws and regulations on sentencing are diverse and complex. There is a need to integrate laws and regulations on sentencing while facilitating its accessibility so that even those with no legal expertise can easily understand its content and ramifications. In response to these requests, the United Kingdom enacted the Sentencing Act 2020, integrating the content of sentencing procedures woven into various laws into one comprehensive law. After about five years of research and consultation, the U.K. Law Commission drafted the bill of the Sentencing Act 2020 with a total of 416 articles and 28 articles of supplementary provisions. After consulting with experts and the public, gleaning facts and opinions regarding various issues, the Commission released 4 main reports supporting the need for the enactment of the Act. Further, to increase the transparency of efficacy of sentencing, the Commission also adopted a “Clean Sweep” strategy that largely eliminated the effects of the previous sentencing procedure regulations along with the enforcement of the Sentencing Act of 2020. The Sentencing Act 2020 comprehensively includes sentencing issues such as the court's authority on sentencing, detention, and various non-detention means as well as matters related to the classification and treatment of criminals according to age and other factors. It was highly successful in increasing the efficiency of the criminal justice system by organizing and simplifying the sentencing procedure related laws so as to be comprehensible to any lay person. In Korea, laws and regulations on sentencing procedures are also diverse and complex. Furthermore, although it has already been 15 years since the implementation of the sentencing guidelines, a comprehensive law on sentencing procedure has yet to exist. It is high time for Korea to develop an integrated sentencing law like the Sentencing Act 2020 in U.K. The enactment of the Integrated Sentencing Act in Korea by increasing transparency and accessibility will serve to increase public understanding and trust in sentencing procedures while increasing the efficiency of criminal procedure.