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This is a news blog for my Undergraduate Criminology class at Ewha University in Seoul, South Korea for Spring 2010.
-Jun So-min
ReplyDelete-"Psychopath-Crazy Society"
-This is an article mainly talking about the recent debate in Korea about whether to make the punishment for serial killing by psycopaths be death penalty or life in prison without parole.
In some part of this article, they mention that criminologists suggest that strengthening the penalty for serial killing might reduce similar crimes for the time being. However, it will not work in preventing violent crimes in the long run.
This part supports the opposite idea of the assumption in the chapter that "prison serves as a deterrent both for preventing crime and for keeping criminals away from committing more crime."
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Sociologists, for their part, need to study if there are any elements leading to a more frequent occurrence of psychopathic criminals, such as the individuals' excessive demands from state and society while neglecting their basic responsibilities common in immature democracy.
...
Executing them may reduce similar crimes for some time, but criminologists have long advised against the effectiveness of capital punishment in preventing violent crimes in the long run, based on scientific and historical research.
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URL:http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/02/202_39157.html
Claire Kang
ReplyDelete" Most ex-inmates work as a day-laborer"
This article is about the limited career options for ex-inmates and high recidivism rate. According to the article, it is ex-inmates’ record in prison that prevents them from getting a stable job which could help them re-adjust and establish in society. Since they cannot find a (legal) means to make a living, they end up going back to prison. The article does explain why ex-inmates get into a vicious cycle of in-and-out of jail and shows Korean society unwillingness in taking ex-inmates back to the community. But still, it has failed to point out the ineffectiveness of punishment. The article focuses on the unfavorable social environment for ex-inmate to explain the high recidivism rate while not arguing about the ineffectiveness of incarceration at all. It shows the implicit assumption of most people that there is nothing wrong about prison and prison is perfect deterrence: there must be something else wrong.
The recidivism rate of Korea, in 2009, was 51.4%. It means almost the half of the punishment we imposed on criminals turned out to be ineffective. Incarceration did not stop criminals commit a crime. When we think of the prison and its function as deterrence, we mean people who experienced prison will never commit crime again because they do not want to go back that it will sort of fix their crime-prone mind. But the reality shown in the article proves to be opposite. Their experience in prison did not stop them from committing a crime again. If deterrence is to be working, ex-inmates must not commit a crime no matter what. In case of the article, despite of their bad economic situations, they had to find any other legal ways to make a living rather than an illegal way which would lead them back to the prison. Adverse environment is not to be blamed solely. The high recidivism will only worsen the adverse atmosphere against ex-inmates and more ex-inmates would find it difficult to readjust to society. It is a vicious circle.
The article briefly mentions the failure of job training provided for inmates. It was nominal and failed to gear up the prisoners for the successful readjustment in society. I think this is because most of prison system focuses on isolation rather than rehabilitation. It should have been more practical to make them competitive in society so they can overcome prejudices against their past. This nominal job training also implies the inconsideration for how prisoners ended up in prison and what they need not to come back to prison again. Inmates need an environment to fix their problems in the past and the means to fix needs to be provided if “correctional facility” wants to live up to its name.
As seen from ex-inmates’ difficulty in readjusting to society, incarceration makes more problems rather than solving any. It leaves a person with a stigma which can never be removed for the rest of life and it does not even deter a person from committing a crime. Rather, it puts a person in the situation where one becomes so vulnerable to temptations.
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(this was a Korean article that I translated it.)
ReplyDeleteIt has become a social problem that there are not enough opportunities for ex-inmates to establish themselves. Most of them end up being a day laborer. And the Ministry of Justice has not been able to come up with substantive measures for adjustment of ex-inmates despite of their on-going campaign, “new-life project”. Moreover, the Ministry of Labor is just sitting with their arm crossed saying it might be rather unfavorable for ex-inmates if we give them a special aid in getting jobs.
Lee, the ex-inmate, is living at the dorm provided by the Korean Rehabilitation Agency and working as a taxi driver. He used to work as a day laborer at construction sites and a bus driver. However, he could not make enough money that he is currently staying at the agency dorm driving a taxi. According to Lee, career options were very limited. Except a few taxi companies, bus companies and construction sites, there were no places that welcomed Lee. Government did provide him with job training but the quality of the education was not good enough to get him the better jobs but life as a day labor. He said, many ex-inmates he knows also work as a day laborer. He said, “Who would want to employ an ex-inmate like me? I can’t even make it through the document screening process. I can never dream of any careers in security field. My only option is to work at construction site. But since I have to pay 7000 won for commission fee, buy cigarettes, and transportation fee, I make almost nothing from the job. What’s worse, there is not much work in winter.” He added that stable jobs are impossible to get due to his record in prison and criminal record in past.
In reality, ex-inmates do have limited career options. According to the research by the public corporation in Dajeon, 42 ex-inmates who are in 40s~60s drive taxi, deliver, or work as a day laborer. Also, according to the Ministry of Labor, among those 3387 ex-inmates who were successfully employed, the number of day laborers was 923 and drivers, 731. Those two fields took up almost the half of the total. Among 3387 ex-inmates, there were 10 who work in IT industry, 8 in beauty industry, and 21 in security industry. But those fortunate ones are only about 1%.
Thus it is no surprise that recidivism rate is as high as 51.4%. Those who come to the agency are voluntary that at first they have a strong will to rehabilitate. But due to adverse environment for ex-inmates of the society turns them into outsiders again and as a result, they end up going back to the prison.
Ministry of Labor does not plan to involve in what is going on in reality. They do not plan to enact related policies or laws either. It is the same for Ministry of Justice; They have no specific and substantive plans. Ministry of Justice did start a New-life Project last August which gives tax benefits to employer who employs an ex-inmate. But this project has not been successful and that employers rarely visit the job center to recruit an ex-inmate. The interested person at the job center said, “Even though the Ministry of Justice does say they will make big job market for ex-inmates, in reality, we only get 6 billions of won. It is not enough to provide ex-inmates with stable job. The bottom line is that Korean society seems not to have any responsibility to help their rehabilitation and adjustment to the community at all.”
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http://www.mdtoday.co.kr/mdtoday/index.html?no=109378
Yoon Young Kang
ReplyDelete“Amenity-filled Foreigners’ Prison Draws Criticism”
People are less sympathetic to prisoners. First, they think prisoners are criminals and therefore deserve punishment. Second, to a lot of people, imprisonment of the criminals, with a few exceptions of extremely light crimes, is one of the lightest punishments for criminals that is financed by the innocent people through tax. So, the prisoners deserve the bare minimum - Myth #1.
In addition, people are often even less sympathetic to foreign prisoners because they are "alien" to Korean society. People question why they have committed crimes in "our land" instead of theirs in the first place. These feelings become even stronger when the severity of the crime is very serious and when the victim is Korean. Also, as people believe the foreign criminals are rarely caught and their punishment is too lenient compare with what have done.
These factors, combined with people's already negative perceptions about criminals intensify people's hatred against foreign criminals and disapproval of their better treatment.
So, when people see the great improvement of treatment of foreign prisoners, they cannot stand it - why do we even have to care about prisoners - especially the foreign ones?; why do they deserve such a good treatment after having committed crime in our land, victimize our people, property, etc., and have a "good vacation" with our money? This solidifies Myth #2 - the foreign criminals enjoy their life in Korea - they rarely get caught and even if they caught, they are staying in a country club financed by Korean people.
I agree to the general criticism of creating a special prison and giving much better treatment to foreign prisoners, not because they are criminals who deserve bare minimum although I do agree that the benefit provided to foreign prisoners is a little too much (Myth #1) but because they were given special treatment, which resulted in discrimination of Korean prisoners who are the majority of the Korean prison population (Myth #2).
It is true that the prison conditions is very harsh and needs improvement, prisoners, as human beings, deserves more humane treatment, and prisoners should be trained how to live their lives after they are released. However, giving this chance first to the foreign prisoners is not right. This should have been done equally – or if it could not have been done equally, if discrimination was inevitable, I think it is more appropriate to benefit the majority rather than minority. If the government were to begin this program, as it would cost a lot of money, it should have taken the method of: first, carefully selecting proportionately among Korean and non-Korean prisoners - if the rate of Korean and non-Korean inmates is 100 to 3, the ratio of those who are selected to be in this program should also have been 100 to 3; and second, gradually enlarging this program to cover many prisoners both Korean and foreigners. Then, there would not have been such harsh criticism about this program. The current program clearly seems to be unfair and unjust to Korean prisoners and thus, deserves criticism.
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At a prison in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, on Tuesday, 10 foreign prisoners gathered around in a circle wearing hanbok, or traditional Korean clothing.
ReplyDelete“These are called beoseon - traditional Korean socks,” the teacher said as the “students” were busy tying bows on their hanbok tops.
This Korean culture class is just one of the many amenities available at the Cheonan prison, which opened that day. It is a prison for foreigner convicts - the first of its kind in the world, according to the Ministry of Justice.
At 413,257 square meters (4.5 million square feet), the facility includes 49 buildings. There are 238 joint cell blocks of 15.28 square meters each, as well as 120 solitary rooms of 6.48 square meters. The prison can house 1,230 convicts, though it currently holds only 854. Of this number, 591 are foreigners.
The facility had been a juvenile prison before its transformation. Since early last year, however, foreigners were brought in from jails around the nation.
“We brought in foreign prisoners from Daejeon and Suwon who couldn’t adjust to life in a Korean prison,” said Choi Yun-su, the prison governor.
Cheonan tries to put prisoners of the same nationality in the same joint cells, in which they can watch satellite television in their mother languages.
With its opening, the prison also created an “international cooperation division” and worked with embassies in Korea to better accommodate the prisoners, hiring nine guards who can speak different foreign languages.
The “culture house” at the center of Cheonan has a DVD room, traditional Korean culture room, and a special activities room. Around 10 prisoners can take traditional Korean culture classes, in which they learn how to wear hanbok and perform tea ceremonies.
There are two meal choices at the prison - Korean and Western food. An average meal per foreign prisoner here costs 4,260 won ($3.69). As Western food has more meat and flour, compared to Korean food with rice and vegetables, this is higher than Korean prisoners’ average of 3,430 won.
The ministry said this prison was opened because there has been an increase in foreign criminals in Korea as the number of expatriates in the country has grown to around 1.2 million. As of this month, there are 1,504 foreign prisoners in Korean jails, compared to 621 in 2006.
The prison has sparked criticism from the media and the industry, which say it gives special advantages to foreigners.
“Foreign inmates who served terms with me had better meals,” a 51-year-old ex-convict who completed his sentence late last year said. “Before providing special services to foreign inmates, the government must first improve the terrible prison conditions of Korean inmates.”
“We did not invest a lot more to open this prison and facilitate foreigners,” said an official at the Justice Ministry who declined to be named. “At present, DVD rooms and educational classes exist in other jails as well. The foreigner prison was opened with the aim of better facilitating foreign prisoners who are not familiar with Korean language and culture.”
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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2917081
Gayoung KIM
ReplyDeleteKIM Kil-tae never taken any correctional education for sexual crime in prison
-Ministry of Justice, “He’d taken treatments in a special medical correction center after having been classified as a ‘mentally ill’”-
This article is about a sexual offender, KIM Kil-tae, a latest serial killer who kidnapped a 13-year-old girl and killed her after having raped in Busan.
According to the article he had never taken correctional education which has been offered by the Ministry of Justice from 2008 for the sexual offenders by different 4 levels, even though he had been incarcerated twice for sexual assaults before the latest crime in 2010(case of Busan). The Ministry of Justice asserted that he had been mentally ill so they found that the education would be no use for him. It seems that they found no rationality from KIM, as the Classical Theory explains.
I think that, if they really believe that KIM is a psychopath, they shouldn’t let him stay in the prison. Instead, he should have been sent to a special mental hospital where patients can get well organized psychological treatment, because no deterrence (couple of years in prison) would be effective for him, a mentally ill person.
In this context, I could find that the public regarded prison as a place which holds those who are harmful to society for the security. They don’t usually care about the offender’s background(childhood experience, record of mental treatment etc.) but worry about their safety so they want all criminals off the society. I also learned that the authorities are neglectful of controlling a prisoner who had a strong possibility to commit the same crime again. They just merely kept the prisoner giving him a basic mental treatment in a prison specialized in mental treatment, not a preventive education.(This treatment seems not that effective because KIM had continued to do the same fault in spite of it.) This resulted in KIM kil-tae’s recidivism.
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The prime suspect in the kidnap killing of a 13-year-old girl in Busan has been found that he never had taken any correctional education in spite of this previous 2 incarcerations for sexual assaults.
(Sorry I couldn't afford to translate all the script because I was not familiar with the legal terms)
and here's the Korean article.
ReplyDelete부산 여중생 납치살해 사건의 피의자인 김길태(33)가 성범죄로 두 차례나 교도소에 수감됐음에도 재범방지를 위한 교정교육은 단 한 차례도 받지 않았던 것으로 드러났다.
김은 지난 1996년 폭력 혐의로 재판에 넘겨져 징역 10월에 집행유예 2년을 선고받고 교도소에 복역하다 출소한 뒤 이듬해 9월 A양(사건 당시 9세)을 성폭행하려한 혐의(아동강간 미수)로 검거돼 징역 3년형을 선고받았다. 이후 김은 출소 한 달 만인 2001년 5월 B씨(32·여)를 열흘 동안 납치 감금한 뒤 성폭행한 혐의(특수강간)로 기소돼 징역 8년형을 선고받고 수감됐다.
그러나 김은 지난해 6월 만기 출소할 때까지 성범죄자들의 재범 방지를 위해 법무부가 실시 중인 '성폭력범 교화 및 치료 프로그램'에 단 한 번도 참여하지 않은 것으로 밝혀졌다. 재범 우려가 큰 성범죄자가 제대로 된 관리를 받지 못하고 방치된 셈이다.
이에 대해 법무부 관계자는 "김은 정신질환 증세를 보여 의료전문교정시설인 진주교도소에서 2년4개월가량 치료를 받았다"며 "정신질환자는 교육의 효과를 기대하기 어렵기 때문에 통상적인 성폭력 예방 교육을 실시하는 게 곤란하다"고 밝혔다.
한편 법무부는 지난 2008년부터 각 교정기관에서 성범죄자를 대상으로 단계별 전문교정프로그램을 운영하고 있으며 서울영등포교도소 등 4곳에서 집중교육이 이뤄지고 있다.
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http://www.mt.co.kr/view/mtview.php?type=1&no=2010031115055427892&outlink=1
Goeun Kim
ReplyDeleteRapists and chemical castration punishments; maximum of 50/30 years imprisonment.
For the past couple of years there have been numerous child rape cases in Korea. It is worse enough that these victims are children and that they are raped but they are also killed. Cho Doo soon, a rapist who raped a ten year old girl and made her live with permanent physical damages, was only sentenced to 12 years in prison. In the U.S. rapists are generally, if the severity of the case is harsh, sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment. Due to Cho’s case, Koreans have been raising their voices and petitioning for more harsh punishments. A maximum of 15 years was not perceived as enough, so the Korean legislature has maximized the sentence to 50 years and furthermore, if necessary, 30 years of electronic monitoring. However there are doubts whether this will be effective in reducing sexual crimes. One might say that 50 years is enough and life sentencing is violating individual rights, but the increasing of 35 years just does not seem enough.
The perception of rapists is that they commit the same crime or even worse when they are released, and most of them do. The whole issue is whether the society is safe, not whether they are given enough imprisonment. The years have been increased to try to meet up to the people’s outcry, however it is unlikely that criminals are going to stop doing what they do just for the fear of a couple of more years. If the maximum is 50, then there is a higher possibility that only severe cases which are shown in the media will be given that amount. Others will only get around 10 to 15 years which is the pre-maximum amount.
Punishment is not to sooth the people and their fears, but to give fear to the people who attempt to commit crime.
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Rapists Could Face Chemical Castration, 50 Years in Jail
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Senior officials from the government and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) reached a consensus on the bill aimed at toughening the punishment of sexual offenders at the National Assembly, Wednesday.
The bill, which the GNP is seeking to legislate this month, is the latest in a series of efforts aimed at amending the Criminal Law in the wake of a controversial Supreme Court ruling in October that upheld a lighter-than-expected verdict handed down on brutal child rapist, Cho Doo-soon.
The 57-year-old Cho was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of raping a primary school girl, who sustained permanent physical injuries.
In fact, that sentence might be considered "tough" under the current law, since the maximum jail term for sexual offenders is 15 years. But the ruling immediately triggered an outcry.
The bill also seeks to remove the statute of limitations on rape cases and of punishment reductions for those who commit a crime while intoxicated - a major excuse perpetrators often use to solicit a lighter sentence, arguing that they were unable to make sound judgments at the time of a crime.
It also includes the establishment of a database of DNA samples of felons; surveillance camera installation in crime-prone districts, particularly in the vicinity of schools; and raising funds of nearly 75 billion won - about 5 percent of 1.5 trillion won collected in fines - to support victims of felonious crimes.
"An abolition of the statute of limitations will make people realize that the legal justice is still alive," Rep. Joo Seong-young of the GNP said.
"Although the death penalty still remains, it has been under a de facto moratorium. So it is necessary to increase the maximum jail term."
The Ministry of Justice is consulting with legal experts at home and abroad to revamp punishment guidelines for serious crimes.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/12/117_56558.html
EunBin Suk
ReplyDelete"Crime and Punishment"
First began in 1989, Cheongju Women Prison is the only prison just for female prisoners in Korea. Are female prisoners treated any different from male prisoners? The documentary called “Three Days” did an exclusive show on this female prison and showed the lives of the Korean female prisoners. Several features of the prison are revealed through the documentary. Carrying 40 kilograms of rice, the prisoners in charge of cooking food wake up at 4 a.m. in the morning and make meals. Though carrying the heavy bag of rice is hard, they carry them because they deserve to be punished. Some inmates say that their mental ability has stopped once entering the jail thirteen years ago. Her image of her child is left as the way it is, when she was 13 years old though her child’s current age is 26. If the prisoner has a baby, she is allowed to be with the infant until the infant turns 18 months old. Also, everyday, their work consists of making textiles or car parts, or they learn to bake bread, make food, and do make-up skills in order to obtain a license. The incense given to doing hard work and getting higher rating is the freedom to call their family, having the jail term shortened, and possibly to have psychological quickening of the time while they work. Through this documentary, one can see in-depth the lives of Korean female prisoners. Repeating a routine endlessly, the female prisoners have no freedom or hope apart from thinking of her child or her family and counting the days until she is free to leave the prison.
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Documentary film "Three Days"
http://www.kbs.co.kr/2tv/sisa/3days/vod/1556457_22093.html
Gayoung KIM
ReplyDeleteKorea in mist of criminal emergency
This article is about the introduction of “chemical castration”. With the increasing number of repeated sexual crime, Korea now is considering a different reaction toward sex crime.
In Korea, different measures have been put in situation-electronic anklet, releasing offenders’ private information in public etc. but it seems that these actions don’t work effectively. Now some legislators have found that severer punishment or response toward sexual crime is needed. They think chemical castration can be the action.
Chemical castration has been operated by some western countries such as the United States, Sweden, Denmark, Poland etc., as an effective way to prevent sexual crimes. According to some researches, chemical castration had reduced sexual crime rate from 40% to 5% in Sweden and Denmark.
I think this new measure is aimed to be used as ‘severe’ deterrence.-This castration reduces sex drives. This also includes politicians’ intention-they want to take stronger action to show voters that they’re now doing good job in dealing with crimes, that they’re doing something for the social security.
I’m a little doubtful about this reaction. The previous responses(releasing offenders’ information on the internet or electronic anklet) were also thought to be effective and quite severe in their first step. As time went by they’ve considered not so much working. Chemical castration might also take the same step. Now it’s thought to be severe and effective but with its possible side effects and other ethical etc., people would later think they need something more powerful than this.
Therefore, in my opinion, what is important is not the severity of reaction or punishment toward crime including sex offense. What is we need to reduce crime rate is accurate enforcement for each crime whether it is light or heavy.
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The rate of sex crimes against children has shown no sign of relenting in recent years and now is no time to expect traditional measures to have an effect, said Rep. Park Min-shik, a former prosecutor. "The number of underage sex crime victims, together with the intensity of the pain they have to endure, should be taken seriously," Park said. "We are in fact in the midst of a criminal emergency which requires all possible responses." Park, member of the ruling Grand National Party and of the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee, suggested in September a bill on the prevention and "cure" of repeated sexual abusers against children. The most controversial part of the bill was chemical castration.
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http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20091127000011