Criminal Trial Filings and Processing Also Decreased Amid COVID-19 Spread

Last Year, First Trial Filings Decreased by 13%
Processed Cases Also Dropped by Over 10,000
Repeated Adjournments and Postponements... "Need for Non-Face-to-Face"

"The court is finding it difficult to set trial dates due to the impact of COVID-19 and other factors."

At the first trial on August 30 last year at the Seoul Central District Court regarding a major conglomerate chairman's alleged violation of the Fair Trade Act, the presiding chief judge expressed this concern. After much deliberation, the chief judge scheduled the second trial date for the end of December, four months later. The trial was postponed twice thereafter and is now expected to proceed only at the end of March.

Due to the widespread impact of COVID-19 last year, it was confirmed that the number of criminal trial cases filed and processed decreased compared to the previous year. According to the Court Administration Office on the 7th, the total number of criminal cases received by single-judge and panel trial divisions in first-instance courts nationwide in 2021 was 199,966, a 13.4% decrease from 230,974 cases in 2020. The number of cases processed also declined to 207,167 last year from 219,001 the previous year.

Looking only at single-judge trial division cases, the number of cases received and processed last year were 184,635 and 192,735 respectively, significantly lower than 215,924 and 205,416 in the previous year. This marked the first decline in the upward trend since 2018.

Investigation and progress of criminal cases tended to be particularly delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent report titled 'Changes and Responses in the Criminal Justice System in the Post-COVID Era - Changes and Responses in Investigation and Trial Due to the Pandemic' released by the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice Policy Research team, a judge with 12 years of experience, Judge A, stated, "When the COVID situation worsened, the court itself recommended recesses," adding, "Trials that could be postponed were delayed, so overall processing slowed down. COVID-19 definitely caused delays in case processing."

The prosecution's investigation and indictment delays due to COVID-19 also had an impact. Judge A explained, "In single-judge criminal cases, the prosecution ultimately determines the volume of cases received. When the number of confirmed cases surged, investigation delays made it difficult to indict, leading to a decrease in court filings." In fact, the number of complaint cases processed by the prosecution last year dropped by 36.3% from 623,079 in 2020 to 396,673. The number of accusation cases processed also decreased to 94,951 last year from 104,058 the previous year.

Ultimately, there are calls to expedite the 'non-face-to-face' transformation of criminal and judicial procedures. Face-to-face procedures are vulnerable during infectious disease pandemics like COVID-19, and when testimony time is limited, it is difficult to fully guarantee the judicial access rights of suspects, defendants, or victims. The Criminal Procedure Electronic Document Act was enacted last September to start electronic services from 2024, but most investigation procedures and criminal trials under the Criminal Procedure Act are still conducted face-to-face.

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