[2020 National Audit] One in Three Sex Offenders Wearing Electronic Anklets Reoffend Within 1km of Residence

Lee Haesik, Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] It has been revealed that there have been 292 cases in the past five years where sex offenders wearing electronic ankle bracelets committed sex crimes again. More than half of these incidents occurred within 1 km of their residences.

According to the 'Status of Recidivism of Sex Offenders Wearing Electronic Ankle Bracelets' submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Lee Haesik, a member of the National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, there were 292 cases of sex crime recidivism by offenders wearing electronic ankle bracelets in the past five years. Of these, more than half (157 cases, 54%) committed sex crimes within 1 km of their residence.

Breaking down by distance: ▲within 100m 33% (96 cases) ▲100~500m 11% (33 cases) ▲500m~1km 10% (28 cases) ▲others 46% (135 cases). Despite wearing electronic ankle bracelets, 22.9% (67 cases) took more than four weeks to apprehend the repeat offenders. Cases apprehended within the same day to one week accounted for 62% (181 cases), and those between one and two weeks were 8.6% (19 cases).

This recidivism and delayed apprehension of sex offenders wearing electronic ankle bracelets is analyzed to be due to the insufficient number of police officers stationed at monitoring centers. By local government, the number of police officers stationed at monitoring centers was only one in Sejong City, three in Jeju City, and three in Gwangju. Seoul had 101 officers, Busan 47, Incheon 33, Ulsan 16, and Daegu 11.

Assemblyman Lee said, “With less than two months until Jo Doo-soon's release, public anxiety is growing. The reason why sex offenders wearing electronic ankle bracelets commit crimes near their residences and these crimes are not prevented or promptly apprehended is due to blind spots in the cooperation system between the Ministry of Justice, which manages electronic device location tracking, and the police who apprehend criminals.”

He added, “It is necessary to improve the system by dispatching police officers to the electronic device location tracking monitoring centers to enhance preventive effects and to enable swift apprehension through cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the police when recidivism occurs.”

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