Constitutional Court Rules "Sentences for Sexual Assault After Trespassing Equal to Rape Are Constitutional"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the legal provision imposing severe punishment, similar to rape charges, for sexual assault committed after trespassing does not violate the Constitution.

On the 7th, the Constitutional Court announced that it unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the legal provision that punishes quasi-forced sexual assault after trespassing with the same heavy sentence as trespassing rape, rejecting a constitutional complaint claiming it violated the principle of equality.

Mr. A was sentenced to three years in prison in 2017 for entering a bedroom in a guesthouse in Jeju and committing sexual assault. However, Mr. A argued that the part of the law stating that a person who commits forced sexual assault after trespassing shall be punished with life imprisonment or imprisonment of five years or more violates the Constitution. He filed a constitutional complaint, claiming that the minimum sentence was excessively high and that it was unfair to punish forced sexual assault with the same sentence as rape, which is a more serious crime.

Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes stipulates that a person who commits rape, forced sexual assault, quasi-forced sexual assault, or similar crimes after trespassing shall be punished with life imprisonment or imprisonment of five years or more.

However, the Constitutional Court did not accept Mr. A's argument. The Court emphasized, "The crime of forced sexual assault after trespassing infringes on the victim's sexual self-determination rights while in a state of mental and physical helplessness in a space where peace and safety should be guaranteed."

It also stated, "It is difficult to see a significant difference in the nature of the crime and blameworthiness between forced sexual assault after trespassing and trespassing rape, and the punishment system does not lose its legitimacy simply because the statutory penalty is not set lighter."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.