Korean Version of the Notification Policy on Sexual Offenders: Did It Enhance Public Awareness of Sexual Crimes Against Minors?

• NCJ Number: 210600
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 49 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2005 Pages: 376-391
• Author(s): Junseob Shin; Young-Boom Lee
• Date Published: August 2005
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study compared South Korea's notification policy for sex offenders who have victimized children with similar community notification programs in the United States.

Abstract

South Korea's Youth Sexual Protection Act of 2000 mandates that twice a year the Korean Commission on Youth Protection (KCYP) will provide the public the names of convicted sex offenders who have victimized children. The first public notice in August 2001 revealed the identities of 169 such sex offenders. The intent of the act is to prevent sex crimes against minors by "enhancing public awareness" of the crime. The current study involved a cross-sectional survey of Koreans 16 years old or older to determine their awareness of and opinions about the notification policy. The 1,409 respondents reflected the populations of metropolitan, middle-city, and rural areas. Generally, the respondents' concerns about sexual crimes against minors and their familiarity with the notification policy were relatively high. The vast majority of the respondents supported the current notification policy, and 249 (17.7 percent) of the respondents had identified sexual offenders in their communities through the notification policy. Unlike community notification laws in the United States, the Korean notification policy places more emphasis on deterring sexual crimes against minors by using a strong form of social punishment, i.e., regular public exposure of the identities of offenders. U.S. notification laws, on the other hand, emphasize deterrence of sexual crimes. The Korean notification policy also differs from the American community notification laws in that it does not have registration requirements for sex offenders. This suggests that it is of little help in assisting law enforcement agencies in monitoring sex offenders in the community. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 29 references