Death penalty sought for crimes against children

A school official checks a closed-circuit television camera in a school compound yesterday in Seoul. The city plans to install another 2,149 such cameras by 2010, quadrupling the current number. [YONHAP]

In the wake of the Christmas Day murders of two girls in Anyang, the Lee Myung-bak administration vowed yesterday to toughen the punishment for crimes against children.
The Justice Ministry said it will seek to allow the death penalty to be applied to anyone who rapes and murders a child under the age of 13. Currently, the punishment for such crimes against children is a maximum of life in prison, the same as for adults. The new bill will tentatively be named after the two girls killed.
“Any crime is unacceptable, but a crime against a child is particularly heinous and intolerable,” Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said at a cabinet meeting yesterday. “We must do our best to prevent the crimes and arrest the suspects. As we saw in the recent Anyang slayings and in the Ilsan case, we should review the initial police responses and come up with improvement plans.”
Han was referring to two high profile cases. In Anyang, a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old were sexually assaulted and then killed on Dec. 25 last year. Their dismembered bodies were found last month. In the Ilsan case, which happened March 26, a 10-year-old girl was brutally kicked and punched by a man whom police said was a convicted child molester. The suspect was arrested Monday night.
During yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han announced the proposed revision, called a “crime prevention plan.” He said the bill, tentatively named the “Hyejin-Yeseul Act” after the murdered girls from Anyang, will be submitted to the National Assembly by September.
“Some speak about the human rights of criminals, but as we can see in the Anyang case, the crime was unspeakably cruel,” Kim said. “We need stern punishment for repeat offenders.”
If the bill is approved, a person convicted of killing and sexually assaulting a child under 13 would be sentenced to either the death penalty or a lifetime prison term, Kim said. Under the current criminal codes, such a crime is punishable by between 10 years in prison and a life sentence.
The ministry said it wants a child sex offender to be jailed without the possibility of parole to reduce the recurrence of such crimes.

The ministry also seeks to establish a treatment program for sex offenders who have mental problems, including pedophiles, even after they complete their prison terms. They will be reviewed routinely and must show improvement before being released, the ministry said.
Starting in October, a child sex offender ruled to have the potential to repeat the crime will be required to wear an electronic anklet to track his or her whereabouts for up to five years.
The ministry also said it will create a genetic information database of child sexual offenders to heighten the efficiency of the investigation and trial. A special task force will also be created to handle child kidnapping and sexual crimes, and to respond to the cases around the clock.
In a separate but related measure, the Seoul city government said it will increase the number of surveillance cameras near the city’s elementary schools three-fold. “We will install 2,149 more cameras by 2010,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said.
Currently, there are 700 closed-circuit TVs installed near 572 elementary schools in the city.

By Ser Myo-ja Staff Reporter [myoja@joongang.co.kr]