Ruling Party Debate: "Random Crimes Have Higher Recidivism Risk... Post-Release Management System Needed"

April 4th People Power Party Policy Committee Emergency Forum
Emergency Forum on Responding to Abnormal Motivated Crimes Held

As so-called 'random crimes' with abnormal motives are rapidly increasing, there are calls to establish post-release management measures considering the high likelihood of recidivism for such crimes.

On the morning of the 4th, the Policy Committee of the People Power Party and the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice held an "Emergency Forum on Responding to Abnormal Motive Crimes" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building to discuss such measures. In his opening remarks, Park Dae-chul, chairman of the Policy Committee, said, "We should consider approaching abnormal motive crimes as a social pathological phenomenon and address them from the perspective of protection and treatment in line with the pace of social change."

Yoon Jeong-sook, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice, who presented at the forum, emphasized the high risk of recidivism among abnormal motive offenders and urged the establishment of countermeasures. She explained, "It was found that 75% of abnormal motive offenders have prior criminal records. The proportion of those with multiple prior convictions is also high. Only 20% had no history of random crimes in the past."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to Yoon’s 2016 analysis using assessment tools on abnormal motive offenders, 83.3% of them were classified as high-risk groups for violent crime recidivism, and 31.7% were high-risk groups for recidivism of abnormal motive crimes.

She argued that to respond to the 'chronic anger type' crimes, which account for 45.8% of all abnormal motive crimes, management of high-risk recidivists through cooperation among related agencies is necessary. Yoon pointed out, "In the case of sex offenders, if they are high-risk criminals, post-release management is possible through electronic anklets or registration of identity information when they return to the community, but such systems are not in operation for abnormal motive offenders."

Yoon also saw the need to strengthen inter-agency cooperation among the police, correctional institutions, and other organizations in the community. Since it is unclear what information is shared and utilized for public safety regarding high-risk recidivists of abnormal motive crimes between correctional institutions and probation offices or between correctional institutions and the police, she suggested the need for alternatives such as building a common system.

Additionally, there was advice that a social safety net is necessary to prevent types of abnormal motive crimes where individuals despair over their circumstances and harbor dissatisfaction with society. Yoon said, "There are relatively many community services for (isolated) youth domestically, but the social safety net for people in their 30s is not well established. Overseas, institutions like the Ministry of Loneliness have been newly established, and local government heads continuously take active interest and initiative."

She added, "Not all isolated youth are potential offenders, but abnormal motive offenders show such characteristics, so we propose strengthening the social safety net to prevent these crimes."

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