More sex criminals to wear electronic anklets

By Lee Hyo-sik

Staff reporter

Thousands of felons convicted of rape and other sex crimes are likely to be obliged to wear traceable electronic anklets, with a revised bill enabling the retroactive enforcement of the monitoring of sex offenders rule going into effect Friday.

The prosecution plans to ask courts to issue an order mandating as many convicted sex offenders as possible to wear the device in a bid to prevent them from repeating their crimes.

According to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Tuesday, prosecutors will investigate 6,916 convicted sex criminals nationwide to decide whether to place them under the monitoring system.

Former sex offenders have not been subject to wearing the device if they were convicted before Sept. 1, 2008, when the scheme was introduced in an attempt to control sex criminals prone to recidivism. But from July 16, sex convicts could be forced to wear the device even if they were indicted before September 2008.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said it will prepare detailed guidelines as soon as possible on how to sort out nearly 7,000 convicted sex criminals and send them to 57 district prosecutors' offices.

Among other guidelines, those who repeated a sex crime within five years of committing the first offense, or sexually assaulted minors under 13, will have to wear the anklet. If selected, former sex criminals will be required to wear the device for 24 hours a day for up to 30 years.

A prosecution official said attaching traceable electronic devices to sex offenders has been the most effective measure to stop them from committing crimes again, adding that prosecutors will actively seek court orders to put as many convicts as possible under the monitoring system. "We expect the anklet scheme to help substantially lower the repeat of sex crimes."

According to the justice ministry, among 616 convicted sex criminals wearing the anklets, only one individual repeated an offense since September 2008.

A series of recent high-profile sexual attacks against minors have been committed by convicted sex offenders.

On June 7, Kim Soo-chul, a convicted rapist, kidnapped a girl who was strolling across the playground of her school in Yeongdeungpo to attend an after-school class and raped her at his home. In February, a teenage girl in Busan was raped and killed by Kim Gil-tae, who had spent a total of 11 years behind bars for committing several rapes. Both did not have to wear the anklet because they were convicted before September 2008.

Another child rapist Cho Doo-soon, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail last September, was not required to carry the device when he brutally beat and raped an elementary school girl in December 2008.

성범죄자 전자 발찌 소급 적용

성범죄 전과자에게 전자 발찌를 소급 적용을 허용하는 개정안에 따라 6916명의 대상자에 전자 발찌 착용을 추진할 예정이라고 법무부와 대검찰청은 13일 밝혔다.

개정안 전에는 2008년 9월 1일후에 유죄판결을 받은 성범죄자만 전자발찌 착용이 적용되었지만, 오는 16일부터 전과자 대상 소급 적용이 시작된다.

검찰은 전자 발찌 부착 대상자를 가리기 위한 지침을 전국 57개 지방검찰청 및 지청에 배부할 예정이다.

검찰은 실형을 선고 받은 후 5년 이내 재범을 했거나 13세 미만을 성폭행하는 등 재범 위험성이 보이는 전과자들을 상대로 전자 발찌 부착을 청구한다고 밝혔다.