(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Yun-seon = The government recently brought up the idea of introducing 'life imprisonment without parole' in the wake of the court's recent sentencing of high school girl murderer Jang Yoon-gi to life imprisonment in the first trial.
It is argued that the human rights of victims and their families should be protected by permanently isolating violent criminals from society, but counterarguments are also raised that it is ineffective in preventing crime and may block the possibility of reformation of inmates.
According to the legal community on the 25th, the Ministry of Justice reported that it would actively promote the introduction of life sentences without parole at the 'Government-wide response meeting for an ultra-safe society' chaired by President Lee Jae-myung on the 23rd.
The Ministry of Justice is known to have pointed out that under the current criminal law, parole is prohibited for the death penalty, but is not actually executed, so it has been decommissioned, while life imprisonment can be paroled after serving 20 years or more, so there is a blind spot between the two statutory sentences.
According to Article 72 of the Criminal Act, even if a person is sentenced to life imprisonment, parole is possible under certain conditions if he or she serves more than 20 years. Accordingly, people sentenced to life imprisonment will be eligible for parole if they serve more than 20 years.
According to the Ministry of Justice, 151 life imprisonment prisoners were granted parole from 2017 to September of this year.
This is not the first time there has been controversy surrounding life imprisonment without parole.
Previously, the second trial court sentenced Kim Tae-hyun, who is accused of murdering three mothers and daughters in Nowon-gu, Seoul in 2021, to life imprisonment and emphasized, "Parole should not be allowed."
The first trial court, which sentenced Choi Won-jong to life imprisonment for causing 14 casualties in a knife rampage in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do in 2023, also suggested ways to limit parole.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice submitted a criminal law amendment bill to the National Assembly that would establish a new 'absolute life sentence' (life sentence without parole) in 2023, but it was scrapped amid strong opposition.
In the same year, the Supreme Court stated, "In developed countries, there is a tendency to abolish it under the judgment that it is unconstitutional," and stated that if it is introduced, the type of crime, sentencing requirements, and sentencing conditions should be specified in detail.
However, social unrest has intensified due to a series of violent crimes, including a recent stabbing rampage, and the 13th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court, the first trial of the Jang Yoon-gi case, has emphasized the need for thorough enforcement of life imprisonment without parole, sparking controversy again.
Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, also raised the need for discussion, saying, “We will discuss it in the National Assembly.”
In response to this, experts agreed that it would be inappropriate to immediately introduce life imprisonment without parole without sufficient discussion on the abolition of the death penalty or the conditions of parole for life imprisonment.
Seungik Yoo, a visiting professor at the Department of Law at Myongji University (director of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy's Judicial Monitoring Center), said, "In the current situation where the death penalty is not actually executed, if life imprisonment without parole, which is similar to the death penalty, is introduced, it will inevitably be criticized as being anti-human rights. Increasing the punishment does not have a crime prevention effect (disturbance effect)."
There are also concerns that opportunities for inmates to be educated are cut off.
A front-line correctional officer said, “If there is no hope of parole, prisoners will completely lose the motivation to lead a good life in prison,” and “There will be no effect of reformation or correction.”
Some argue that the parole standards for life sentences should first be refined in consideration of fairness with fixed-term sentences.
Seung Jae-hyeon, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, said, “A fixed-term sentence can be aggravated up to 50 years in prison, but the parole period cannot exceed 10 years.” He added, “For example, if you are sentenced to 40 years in prison, you cannot be subject to parole review until you have served 30 years.”
He added, “Resolving the problem of imbalance between fixed-term and life-term imprisonment is a priority,” adding, “We must first resolve the contradictions in law and order, such as increasing the minimum sentence for life-term prisoners from the current 20 years to more than 40 years, and then decide whether to introduce a system (life-time imprisonment without parole) through deliberation.”
