The Electronic Ankle Bracelet Cut by a Murderer... Will 'Smaller and Lighter' for Human Rights Be Effective?

Sex Offender Damages Electronic Ankle Bracelet, Kills Two Women... Ministry of Justice Pushes for 'Smaller, Lighter' Devices

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The debate over the ineffectiveness of electronic anklets (location tracking electronic devices) has resurfaced after a sex offender who cut off his electronic anklet and fled was found to have murdered two women before and after his escape. The controversy is expected to intensify as this incident occurred while the Ministry of Justice is considering making electronic anklets smaller and lighter to reduce social stigma.

According to the legal community on the 30th, the Ministry of Justice has been working since June to change the functions and appearance of electronic devices due to the aging of electronic anklets and the increase in the number of people required to wear them. (Refer to our June 17 article, "Making Electronic Anklets Smaller and Lighter... Human Rights Protection vs Excessive Convenience Debate") The plan is to produce improved electronic anklets for stable electronic monitoring by enhancing radio wave reception even in harsh environments and changing the strap material to prevent damage incidents.

The issue is that discussions are also underway considering the inconvenience to the wearers. The current integrated electronic anklet combines the functions of a portable tracking device and an attachment device, increasing its size and weight, which has led to growing dissatisfaction. The Ministry of Justice views this as an obstacle to rehabilitation. The push for miniaturization and weight reduction aims to significantly reduce the social stigma effect as well.

However, this incident has sparked criticism that the rights of criminals are being excessively protected. The offender committed murder while wearing the electronic anklet intended to prevent recidivism, cut off the anklet, fled, and was not apprehended for about 40 hours before surrendering, failing to prevent additional crimes.

The electronic anklet failed to prevent Mr. Kang’s murders. Considering that the victims’ bodies were found at Kang’s residence and in the vehicle he used to surrender to the police, if Kang had not cut off the electronic anklet, authorities might not have even known about the crimes.

Although the Ministry of Justice stated it would improve the durability of electronic devices to prevent recidivism among monitored individuals and establish close cooperation with the police for rapid apprehension, this is merely a "too little, too late" response. The newly introduced evaluation system for high-risk repeat offenders and the expansion of electronic monitoring personnel cannot keep pace with the increasing number of monitored individuals.

According to Ministry of Justice statistics, the number of electronic monitoring subjects reached 8,166 by July this year, more than five times the 1,561 in 2011, ten years ago. Damage to electronic anklets has also steadily occurred each year: 23 cases in 2018, 21 in 2019, 13 in 2020, and already 11 cases by July this year.

In the legal community, opinions suggest that one-on-one management and supervision, such as assigning dedicated probation officers to electronic anklet wearers, should be implemented first to prevent recidivism. However, manpower limitations remain. As of July this year, there are 281 electronic monitoring personnel managing an average of 17.3 individuals each.

Sex offenders with a high risk of recidivism require one-on-one dedicated supervision, but due to manpower shortages, only 19 individuals are under such supervision. Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye apologized to the public during a morning briefing, saying, "I am sorry to the people for the fact that an electronic monitoring subject committed a horrific crime," and added, "For the electronic monitoring system to effectively prevent recidivism, various budgetary, personnel, and internal organizational culture changes must accompany it."

Meanwhile, Kang had a total of 14 criminal convictions, including robbery-rape and robbery-assault, with two of them being sex crimes, but he was not subject to public disclosure of personal information. Kang committed his first sex crime in 1996 against a pedestrian, receiving a five-year prison sentence with protective custody, and committed his second sex crime five months after release, for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and served his term.

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