Ministry of Justice Expands Public Defender Support to Include Victims of Murder and Robbery... Legislative Notice for Amendments to Criminal Procedure Act and Others

Establishment of Appeal Procedures Against 'Denial of Access and Copying of Trial Records' Decisions

From now on, victims of violent crimes such as murder or robbery will also be able to receive support from court-appointed lawyers. The government has decided to significantly expand the scope of court-appointed lawyer support, which was previously limited to victims of certain crimes such as sexual violence or child abuse.

The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on the 27th that they will publicly notify the proposed amendments to eight laws, including the Criminal Procedure Act, Specific Violent Crimes Act, Sexual Violence Punishment Act, Child Abuse Punishment Act, Stalking Punishment Act, Welfare of Disabled Persons Act, Juvenile Protection Act, and Human Trafficking Prevention Act, from the 28th until the 6th of next month.

Ministry of Justice, Government Gwacheon Complex. Photo by Son Seonhee

The core of this amendment is to expand the support system for court-appointed lawyers for victims, thereby strengthening the state's legal support for victims of serious violent crimes. Previously, court-appointed lawyers could only be provided to victims of crimes such as sexual violence, expanded child and disabled abuse, human trafficking, and stalking. The new amendment includes expanding the support to crimes enumerated as "specific violent crimes" under the Specific Violent Crimes Act, such as general murder, robbery, and organized violence. Court-appointed lawyers will be mandatorily provided to victims under 19 years old or those with mental disabilities, while in other cases, support will be selectively provided on a case-by-case basis as before.

Along with this, the rights of victims to inspect and copy trial records will also be strengthened. The amendment includes establishing an appeal procedure allowing victims to challenge a court's dismissal of their application to inspect or copy trial records in a higher court. In particular, for "serious violent crimes" and "crimes against vulnerable groups," which are the categories for court-appointed lawyer support due to increased needs for victim protection and rights remedies, special provisions have been revised to generally permit inspection and copying of trial records.

The Ministry of Justice has announced a legislative proposal to strengthen the rights to access and copy trial records, along with the related laws and amendments. Provided by the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice formed a "Task Force (TF) for Improving the Crime Victim Support System" last October and has been continuously discussing improvement plans for supporting various crime victims. Notably, this amendment includes proposals made by the victim of the so-called "Busan Dolleochagi (spinning kick) incident." The victim appeared as a witness at the National Assembly Judiciary Committee's audit in October and stated, "I applied several times to inspect the trial records, but permission was not granted, and even when applying for civil cases, they said the records could only be provided after the first trial ended," and suggested, "Unless there is a reasonable cause, all trial records should be disclosed, and if some pages must be withheld, at least inform us of those parts."

Inogong, Acting Minister of Justice, said, "We will continue to steadfastly pursue efforts to reorganize the criminal justice system centered on protecting and supporting crime victims in the new year to ensure there is no deficiency in protecting victims' human rights."