Tag: sex crimes

ROK Military Sex Crimes Will Be Tried in Civilian Courts

If this was done for the U.S. military I am willing to bet there would be less convictions because of the higher standards to convict in a civilian court:

An Air Force officer is taken to a military court in Seoul on June 2, 2021, to attend a hearing to review whether an arrest warrant will be issued over his alleged sexual harassment of a female colleague, which caused her to take her own life in May, in this photo provided by the defense ministry.

Military sex crimes will be tried in civilian courts, not in military courts, as the National Assembly on Tuesday approved a revision of the military justice system in the wake of suicide deaths of sexual harassment victims at barracks.

Under the revision of the Military Court Act, all sex crimes in the military will be tried at civilian courts from the beginning. Also to be dealt with by civilian courts, rather than courts-martial, include such violent crimes as homicide and crimes that service members committed before joining the military.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Korean Lawmakers Pass New Law Authorizing Chemical Castration of Sex Offenders

It will be interesting in a few years to see if this new policy actually helps reduce the number of sex crimes or not?:

South Korean lawmakers have passed amendments to sex crime laws which will see those guilty of attempted rape and voyeurism subject to drug treatment, also known as chemical castration, in order to control their sexual impulses.

During the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon held on Tuesday at the Government Complex in Seoul, the government deliberated and voted on a number of reforms related to the law concerning pharmacological treatment of violent sex crime offenders, meaning offenders committing crimes of attempted rape, voyeurism, and rape involving minor victims will all be subject to chemical castration.

In addition, those serving a prison sentence and court orders of pharmacological treatment in the last nine to six months will be able to appeal to a court to lift the orders after being examined by psychology professionals to assess the risks of recidivism.  [Korea Biz Wire]

You can read more at the link.

Confirming the Obvious, Korean Researchers Link Alcohol Abuse to Domestic & Sexual Violence

Here is another one of those reports that a lot of resources is spent on to confirm the obvious:

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When Lee Tae-ho, a social worker at the National Child Protection Agency, last year visited a 7-year-old at his home upon request from his school teacher, nothing seemed too out of place at first.

“My mother drinks a lot of water when she’s eating,” the child told him about his single mother.

It didn’t take long for Lee to realize that the “water” was in fact the colorless Korean alcoholic beverage soju.

Unemployed and depressed since her bitter divorce, the mother would drink about 20 bottles of soju a week, and would fail to provide basic care for her young children. The boy and his sister, 6, would skip dinner most days. A number of times, the suicidal mother asked them if it “would be better if they all killed themselves together.”

As a social worker working for a state-run agency, Lee said he has personally witnessed many domestic violence abusers with drinking problems.

Lee’s observation was demonstrated in a recent study, which found a significant connection between alcohol abuse and domestic and sexual violence in South Korea.

The scholarly article from Dongguk University, which surveyed 4,851 arrested individuals for violent crimes last year, showed that 73.1 percent of the domestic violence abusers and 67.9 percent of sex offenders committed their offenses while under the influence of alcohol.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but one thing of interest in the report is that the researchers recommend that the system of giving more lenient punishment for crimes in Korea for being drunk needs to end.  The researchers believe that people with a history of drinking problems should instead get heavier punishments.

ROK Military Releases New Guidelines to Prevent Sexual Assaults

The measures the ROK Army is taking to stop sex crimes is even stricter than anything we have seen in the US Army yet:

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The Army is scrambling to come up with a new code of behavior in response to a recent series of sex crimes in barracks.

“A top brass meeting held on Tuesday decided to work out a code of conduct to cope with sex crimes,” an Army spokesman said Thursday. “It will be issued in the name of the Army chief of staff and violators will be subject to punishment under military law.”

Male or female soldiers will be banned from visiting the quarters of soldiers of the opposite sex alone. Soldiers of different genders will only be allowed to shake hands with one hand.

Soldiers of different ranks will be prohibited from dating, and no soldier will be allowed to travel, or stay in the same office, alone with another of the opposite sex. When it is inevitable that they are alone in the same office, they must leave the door open.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.