Supreme Court "Strengthens Criminal Case Management"... 'Chief Research Officer' to Be Appointed for New Criminal Cases

"Operated under a system similar to the Civil Affairs Department"

The Supreme Court is stepping up its management of criminal cases. A new position of Chief Researcher will be created in the Criminal New Case Division, which handles newly filed criminal cases among those received by the Supreme Court. Inside and outside the court, this is interpreted as the Supreme Court's intention to strengthen the substantive handling of criminal trials.

According to a comprehensive report by Law Times, the Supreme Court plans to create a Chief Researcher position in the Criminal New Case Division in the new task allocation effective from the 19th. In the Supreme Court Research Office, the Civil Division has operated under a so-called 'dual chief system' with Chief Researchers for both the New Case Division and the In-depth Division. In contrast, the Criminal Division has been operated with one Chief Researcher for the In-depth Division and one Head of the New Case Division.

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

Typically, the Head of the New Case Division has been a third-year researcher, the final year of a researcher's term. Inside the court, discussions have emerged about appointing a Chief Researcher for the Criminal New Case Division, similar to the Civil New Case Division. On January 26, the Supreme Court announced personnel appointments for court presidents, high court chief judges, and high court judges. At that time, the Supreme Court appointed Nam Woo-hyun (45, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 35), a judge of the Seoul High Court, as a Judicial Researcher.

It is reported that Judge Nam is expected to take on the newly established Chief Researcher role for the Criminal New Case Division. Since the introduction of the dual personnel system separating appointments for high courts and district courts, Judge Nam's appointment as a Supreme Court Judicial Researcher is the second case following the first appointment of a high court judge as a Judicial Researcher in the regular personnel changes of February 2023.

Within the court, it is also interpreted that Judge Nam's experience handling criminal appeals in the criminal division of the high court was a factor behind his appointment. A chief judge who previously served as a Judicial Researcher said, “Overall, this reflects Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae’s intention to strengthen and reinforce the Supreme Court’s criminal work. Previously, the system was centered on the Civil Division due to workload reasons, but going forward, it seems they intend to bolster criminal case management and operate under the same system as the Civil Division.” It is also known that two additional researchers were added to the Civil New Case Division in this task allocation.

This is also interpreted as reflecting the Chief Justice’s intention to resolve trial delays. Inside the court, it is diagnosed as an effort to strengthen the substantive review function of civil new cases.

Park Soo-yeon, Law Times Reporter

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.

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