I couldn’t applaud this move more - courtesy the Korea Times:
The government-affiliated youth protection panel is seeking to revise the Juvenile Sex Protection Act to make public the pictures of those who committed sex crimes against minors.
“We are in the final stage of coming up with a revision. The revision will allow us to provide detailed personal information, including the pictures and home addresses, of those who have committed serious sex crimes against juveniles and repeat offenders,” Lee Kyong-eun, an official at the Commission on Youth Protection, said in an interview with The Korea Times on Wednesday.
A task force consisting of three law school professors and researchers from various institutes was formed shortly after a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Korea on June 26th that declared the revelation of sex offenders’ identities constitutional.
The commission has so far publicized the personal information of 1,926 sex offenders who committed crimes against juveniles since August 2001. The commission is scheduled to release its fifth list today.
However, some might not be pleased:
Still, the revision is expected to arouse a much heated debate between the government and human rights activists.
The Seoul Administration Court had recommended the youth commission retract its revelation of the identities of two convicted sex offenders in October. The court said the offenders have already completed their correctional program, thus they were not subject to further penalties.
Also, when the Constitutional Court ruled the act of revealing the personal information of criminals constitutional, only four out of nine justices at the court ruled in favor of the act. The act, however, was declared constitutional because the court needs six out of nine votes to rule a law or an act unconstitutional.
You know, I have this strange feeling that the other five judges were too worried about getting busted for their weonjokyojae relationships with high school girls to rule in favor of the act.
