"Motel confinement and assault with hot water poured"
Many brutal youth crimes including elder abuse and water torture
Youth violent crimes increased from 28.9% to 33.6%
Experts say "Punishment should be strengthened to prevent abuse of the law"
In Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, middle school students assaulted an elderly person on the subway by choking his neck and verbally abusing him with severe profanity. Although they were charged with elder abuse, they were classified as juvenile offenders under the Juvenile Act, making criminal prosecution impossible. It is expected that they will receive protective measures from the juvenile court. Photo by YouTube capture
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Brutal teenage crimes continue unabated, prompting growing calls for tougher punishments. There are also concerns that even juvenile offenders under the age of 14, who are below the age of criminal responsibility, should face penalties commensurate with the severity of their crimes.
According to the legal community on the 25th, the court sentenced teenage boys who tortured their peers by confining them in a motel and pouring hot water on their chests while extorting money. The accused youths, who were prosecuted, had in June last year lured a 16-year-old male student they had known for some time to a motel, threatened him to extort money, forced him to undress, and then confined and assaulted him for about 15 hours and 30 minutes.
The perpetrators repeatedly punched the victim’s face and chest, forced him to repeatedly sit down and stand up, and even poured hot water from a coffee pot onto the victim’s chest, committing severe abuse. As a result, the victim sustained injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment and suffered second-degree burns.
They are also accused of approaching a man in his 50s leaving a massage parlor in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, spitting on his face and grabbing his collar to shake him. It was found that they confiscated the victim’s phone when he tried to report to the police and extorted cash. The Seoul Western District Court (Criminal Division 9, Judge Park Soo-hyun) sentenced two of the accused students to eight months and six months in prison, respectively, with a two-year probation for the latter.
In another incident last September, three high school students assaulted and subjected a classmate to water torture in an apartment in Seoul. The perpetrators forced the victim to drink two liters of bottled water, and when he vomited, they made him eat the vomit, committing heinous crimes. Moreover, they filmed sexually exploitative videos of the victim and distributed them online.
Between the 9th and 14th of last month, seven high school students in Seogwipo city and the areas of Pyoseon and Seongsan-eup in Jeju were caught by police for stealing and driving 10 cars and motorcycles, charged with theft and unlicensed driving. They stole vehicles that were parked with keys in the ignition and drove them around, switching to another stolen vehicle when the fuel ran out. Investigations revealed that these crimes were mainly committed to fund entertainment expenses and for transportation, and valuables were also stolen along with the vehicles.
Additionally, last month in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, middle school students assaulted an elderly person on the subway by strangling his neck and verbally abusing him severely, resulting in charges of elder abuse. However, as they were classified as juvenile offenders under the age of criminal responsibility, criminal prosecution was not possible, and they are expected to receive protective measures from the juvenile court.
Such teenage crimes are on the rise. According to crime analysis statistics from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on the 14th, the proportion of violent crimes among juvenile offenses increased from 28.9% in 2009 to 33.6% in 2019. In particular, sexual violence crimes committed by minors more than doubled from 1,574 cases in 2009 to 3,180 cases in 2019. Assault crimes increased by 66.1%, and threats surged nearly 13.5 times.
Furthermore, in the third and fourth quarters of last year, the crime type with the highest proportion of juvenile offenders was violent crime (9.7%), followed by property crime (6.5%) and violent offenses (4.9%).
Petitions calling for the abolition of the Juvenile Act and the strengthening of punishments for juvenile crimes have been posted on the Blue House National Petition Board. Photo by Blue House National Petition Board screenshot
The lenient punishments for juvenile offenders are cited as a cause for the persistent brutal teenage crimes. On the Blue House’s public petition board, petitions calling for the abolition of the Juvenile Act system have been steadily posted. More than six petitions this year alone have demanded the abolition of the Juvenile Act and the juvenile offender system, arguing for tougher penalties for youth offenders.
Regarding this, lawyer Oh Si-young said on BBS Radio’s "Park Kyung-soo’s Morning Journal," "In Korea, juvenile offenders under the age of criminal responsibility, who violate the law but are exempt from criminal punishment, are subject to the Juvenile Act rather than the Criminal Act and are treated only as subjects for guidance and education. The problem is that these children all know they are exempt from criminal punishment at that age. The children have become cunning, exploiting the law."
Lawyer Oh added, "Tracing back the origins of the Criminal Act, it was created during the Japanese colonial period, and the age for juvenile offenders was set then. In fact, many foreign legislations have lowered the age to 12 or 13. I think the National Assembly should seriously consider this issue and lower the age of juvenile offenders accordingly."
Professor Oh Yoon-sung of Soonchunhyang University’s Department of Police Administration also emphasized the need to strengthen punishments for juvenile crimes in a phone interview with Asia Economy. Professor Oh said, "Nowadays, crimes and information are shared through SNS, which has caused juvenile crimes to spread more, and in certain youth groups, these crimes spread like a trend among peers."
He added, "Punishment is not always the best solution, but lenient punishments do not help solve the problem at all. Many youths know that the law sets age limits, so they often feel no fear. Therefore, punishments should be somewhat strengthened to match the changing circumstances."
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