Supreme Court 'Digital Sex Crime Sentencing Guidelines Public Hearing'... "Punishment Should Be Strengthened"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] There have been calls to supplement the sentencing guidelines to impose heavier penalties for digital sex crimes such as the production of sexual exploitation materials and hidden camera offenses.

On the afternoon of the 2nd, the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission held a public hearing on the sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes. The hearing was organized to gather expert opinions on the sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes finalized by the commission.

Earlier, in September, the commission finalized guidelines that increased the severity of punishments, recommending a maximum sentence of 29 years and 3 months for habitual offenders producing child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials. This reflected concerns that the statutory sentencing range for digital sex crimes was broad and lacked clear sentencing standards.

At the public hearing, opinions were expressed that the sentencing guidelines should be raised to strictly punish digital sex crimes. Kim Hangyun, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice, pointed out that the minimum sentencing guideline for producing child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials is 2 years and 6 months, which is lower than the 3-year minimum for rape of adolescents aged 13 and older. Kim stated, "The nature of the crime of producing sexual exploitation materials cannot be considered lighter than adolescent rape," and added, "The lower limit in the mitigation range should be raised."

Professor Lee Yoonjung of Kangwon National University Law School emphasized that digital sex crimes committed for profit should be regarded as seriously as organized crime, mentioning the sentencing guidelines for crimes such as distribution of sexual exploitation materials.

The guideline allowing sentence reduction if the perpetrator deletes the recorded material before distribution was also criticized. Seo Seunghui, Director of the Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Center, expressed concern, saying, "Perpetrators who delete recordings to destroy evidence could all receive reduced sentences."

Additionally, Shin Jinhee, a lawyer at the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, raised issues with the provision that "cases where the content of the recordings is difficult to identify" can be grounds for sentence reduction. Shin argued, "Photos taken only of body parts such as breasts or under skirts may not identify the victim but can still cause sexual humiliation," urging for improvements.

Meanwhile, the Sentencing Commission plans to reflect the opinions from the public hearing and finalize the guidelines in December.

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