현행 형사화해제도의 실태 및 문제점

Current status and problems of the criminal reconciliation system

Criminal agreement is a sort of reconciliation contract based on the autonomy of the offender and the victim. Under our judicial process, the criminal reconciliation system is traditionally accepted on the pretext of criminal agreement. Especially, Bucheon Criminal Victim Support Center has started to operate the system from April 2006. Now Seoul Nambu Criminal Victim Support Center and Daejeon Criminal Victim Support Center operate it, too. The criminal reconciliation system, if well operated, could be very useful to the offender, the victim and the community. Nevertheless, it sometimes does good to the offender only. Therefore the concerned party to arbitrate the reconciliation should be very careful on this matter so as not to create additional victim. For this reason, we need to inquire carefully into letting civil support center take charge of the arbitration of reconciliation. Because the basic legal knowledge and the responsibility and fairness as conflict coordinator should be guaranteed at least to be an arbitrator. This thesis says about the current status and problems of the criminal reconciliation system in relation to the restorative justice which is being settled as new form of solution under the current legal process. But it seems to be too early to provide the valuation and the alternatives about the system. So I would like only to touch some questions which should be examined on the implementing process of the system and try to find the basic direction for the system to go.