Yanghyeongwi "Reflects Sentence Reduction for Personal Cases When Punishment Is Not Requested"

Chairperson Kim Young-ran / Supreme Court

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] In cases where the protection of individual legal interests is important, if the victim does not wish for punishment, the defendant may receive a lighter sentence. On the other hand, in cases where the protection of national and social legal interests is important, agreements will not be reflected as mitigating factors in sentencing.

On the 18th, the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission announced that it held its 111th meeting the previous day and resolved the principles and definitions for organizing sentencing factors with these contents.

First, in cases where the protection of individual legal interests is important, non-punishment wishes will be treated as special mitigating factors, and in some crime categories, 'substantial victim compensation' will also be reflected as special mitigating factors. Until now, sentencing factors related to agreements such as non-punishment wishes and victim compensation varied by crime category.

However, crimes related to the interests of the state and society do not change the punishment depending on the victim's wishes, so sentencing factors related to agreements will not be considered mitigating factors. This is based on the judgment that cases not directly related to individual legal interests cannot have the degree of punishment changed according to the victim's wishes.

For cases where both individual legal interests and national/social legal interests are important, sentencing factors will be set the same as for cases protecting individual legal interests, or non-punishment wishes or substantial victim compensation will be reflected as general mitigating factors.

The Sentencing Commission also clarified the definitions of non-punishment wishes and victim compensation. The definition of non-punishment wishes was set as "cases where the defendant repents the crime and the victim accurately recognizes and accepts the legal and social meaning of non-punishment wishes and does not want punishment." It was also decided to exclude non-punishment wishes obtained through coercion or deception by the defendant's side.

Substantial victim compensation was defined as "cases where, after the defendant's sincere efforts, the damage is restored or recovery is assured to an extent equivalent to an agreement." Specifically, the extent equivalent to an agreement was specified as "at least two-thirds of the damage amount" when only property damage exists. Significant victim compensation was not specifically defined, allowing the court to make a reasonable judgment.

Meanwhile, the Sentencing Commission plans to approve a detailed revision of sentencing guidelines on October 1, gather opinions from related agencies, and finalize the guidelines in December.

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