Kang Ji-won (Sunil Girl’s High School in Seoul)

Juvenile law is a law enacted to protect youths from committing crimes and helping them grow healthy in our society. Young offenders are mentally immature and it is easier to correct their behavior than with those of adult offenders. This is because their criminal habit is not as deep as adult offenders. The law provides that juvenile offenders under the age of 14 should be protected on the basis that they are mentally immature and we should be tolerant of their criminal behaviors. However, not all of us feel happy with this juvenile law and the law seems quite controversial these days. Does the juvenile law help these underaged or premature offenders correct their behaviors? Will the young offenders change their path to the right direction thanks to the juvenile law?

In March 2020, eight middle school students reportedly stole a rental car, which they hit and killed an innocent person. When the police caught and investigated these middle school students, they found out that some of them had committed similar crimes just four days ago. In both cases, however, these young students returned home without any punishment thanks to the juvenile law. According to the National Police Agency statistics, 4 out of 10 juvenile offenders went back to committing crimes, knowing that they would be protected by the juvenile law.

As mentioned above, the juvenile act is a law designed to give these young offenders opportunities for a better future. Unfortunately, however, as proven from these incidents and statistics, the law seems to be abused by offenders. What do you think about this law?  Was the law made to protect criminals who dare to do whatever they want with their age as an excuse and commit crimes freely and repeatedly? It’s time for us to think about the juvenile law more seriously.