Victims of Violent Crimes, Expansion of Public Defender Services... Strengthening the Right to Access 'Trial and Evidence Records'

8 Legal Amendment Bills Passed at Cabinet Meeting
Court Allows Victims of Serious Violent Crimes and Vulnerable Groups to Access and Copy Trial Records

A revision bill to expand the provision of state-appointed lawyers for crime victims and strengthen victims' rights to access trial records has passed the Cabinet meeting.

The Ministry of Justice announced that eight legislative amendments, including the Criminal Procedure Act, which were publicly notified for legislation, passed the Cabinet meeting on the 27th.

The amendment includes provisions allowing prosecutors to provide state-appointed lawyers for victims of specific violent crimes such as murder, violent crimes, and organized crime. State-appointed lawyers will be provided unconditionally to those under 19 years old or persons with mental disabilities, while in other cases, support will be selectively provided depending on the case.

The amendment also includes strengthening the victims' rights to access and copy trial records. In cases of serious violent crimes such as sexual violence, child and disabled abuse, human trafficking, stalking, and crimes targeting vulnerable groups, the court is to, in principle, approve victims' applications to access and copy trial records.

Furthermore, for all crime victims outside of serious violent crimes or crimes targeting vulnerable groups, if they object to the court's decision to deny access or grant conditional access, an immediate appeal and re-appeal procedure has been established to allow them to raise objections to a higher court. The court must specify reasons when deciding whether to approve or deny access and copying applications.

In addition to trial records held by the court, victims may also apply to access and copy evidence records that prosecutors plan to submit to the court as evidence.

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