성범죄자 신상정보 등록･관리제도의 문제점과 개선방안

The Problem and its Improvement of Sex Offender Registration System in Korea

Registration of the sex offenders’ personal information was introduced to Korea, when the Act on the Protection of Juveniles against Sexual Abuse was revised in 2006. Since then, going through several amendments, the program has been reinforced through additional measures, such as sex offender notification on the internet and its postal notification, with its expanded application to sex offenders against adults. The system appears to have settled, overcoming denounce on unconstitutionality and validity. But the debate over its effectiveness and legitimacy resumed, with controversies over excessive infringement on human rights of sex offenders and their family members, and with the rising number of sex offenders against juveniles as well as adults. On July 30, 2015 the Korean Constitutional Court ruled a clause in the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes unconstitutional. It prescribe that any person finally declared guilty of a sex crime shall be a person subject to registration of personal information for 20 years. Thus any person who was finally declared guilty of a sex crime is subject to registration for 20 years in all cases. The Korean Ministry of Justice initiated work on the amendment of the sex offenders’ registration system according to the decision of the Constitutional Court and announced the bill to reform the system. This article aims to criticize the Korean Government bill and to present a better proposal for the revision of the sex offenders’ registration system in Korea.