Court Dismisses 1 in 3 Arrest Warrants for Stalking Crimes

Among 377 Arrest Warrants Requested by Police, 123 Denied, 1 in 3 Cases Rejected

At an urgent press conference held on the 19th in front of Exit 10 of Sindang Station, Jung-gu, Seoul, youth and students demanded stronger punishment for stalking crimes and enhanced protection for victims in response to the murder of a female worker due to stalking. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

At an urgent press conference held on the 19th in front of Exit 10 of Sindang Station, Jung-gu, Seoul, youth and students demanded stronger punishment for stalking crimes and enhanced protection for victims in response to the murder of a female worker due to stalking. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] It has been revealed that the court dismissed one out of three arrest warrants related to stalking crimes.

In fact, Jeon Mo, the suspect in the Sindang-dong stalking murder case, was urgently arrested by the police in October after threatening the victim. Although an arrest warrant was requested, the court dismissed it on the grounds that there was no risk of evidence tampering or flight, and he was released.

According to data received by Lee Seong-man, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and National Assembly member for Bupyeong-gap, Incheon (Administrative Safety Committee), since the Stalking Punishment Act was enforced in October 2021 until August this year, the police have requested 377 arrest warrants related to stalking crimes. However, it was confirmed that the court dismissed 123 of these, accounting for 32.6%. That is roughly one out of three cases.

By year, the police requested ▲ 68 warrants last year, of which 58 were issued and 10 dismissed by the court, and ▲ this year until August, 309 warrants were requested, 196 issued, and 113 dismissed.

Arrest warrants related to sexual violence crimes were requested a total of 6,695 times from 2019 until August this year, with 5,511 issued and 1,184 dismissed, representing a dismissal rate of 17.7%, which is relatively lower compared to stalking crimes. Among the police’s arrest warrant requests, 82.3% of sexual violence suspects were detained, whereas only 67% of stalking suspects were detained.

The victim in the Sindang Station case was stalked more than 300 times by the perpetrator Jeon. After the court dismissed the warrant, Jeon continued stalking by sending about 20 messages to the victim, including demands for settlement, until February this year. This is why citizens say that if the court had not dismissed the arrest warrant in the past, this incident could have been prevented.

Assemblyman Lee Seong-man stated, “Stalking crimes have a high potential to cause direct harm to victims,” and added, “While related systems need to be improved to prevent recurrence, the judiciary’s complacent view of stalking crimes must now change.”