소년법의 연령과 형사책임

The Age in Juvenile Act and Criminal Responsibility

The concept of juvenile protection in the current Juvenile Act applies not only to juvenile protection cases but also to juvenile criminal cases, and the juvenile justice system has been developed in accordance with the problems of criminal responsibility age. In other words, it means that the juvenile protection ideology, which forms the basis of the Juvenile Act, has a nature that can not be discussed separately from the criminal responsibility. This is evidenced by the fact that measures for juvenile protection are criminal sanctions that restrict the basic rights of juveniles. Therefore, it is natural to think about the age problem of the Juvenile Act in connection with the problem of criminal responsibility, and through such a process, it becomes possible to understand rationally the various age regulations prescribed in Juvenile Act. In the protection cases, if the protective detention is introduced to improve rehabilitation of the age group with incomplete responsibility, it is logical whether a juvenile is the object of protective detention or not should be based on the age at the time of act as in the Criminal Act. In the criminal cases, for the same reason, the age standard of the indeterminate sentence and reduction of punishment should be judged by the time of act. The attempt to harmonize the juvenile and criminal laws in terms of criminal responsibility is not merely a slogan of the Juvenile Act aiming at healthy growth of the juveniles, but rather a way to refrain from excessive state intervention and guarantee the juveniles’ procedural rights.