Harsher punishment on patricide faces abolishment

By Lee Hyo-sik

Those who murder their spouses, parents, parent-in-laws and other family members are currently subject to harsher criminal punishment. This will likely change as early as next year, with an ad-hoc criminal law reform committee, consisting of 24 legal scholars in the private sector, moving to establish a universal sentencing guideline for all murderers.

The Ministry of Justice said Tuesday that the committee held a general meeting a day earlier and decided to scrap a clause, which mandates harsher punishments against individuals killing family members, from the nation’s Criminal Law.

The ministry plans to revise the law, based on recommendations by the committee, and submit it to the National Assembly for approval in the latter half of this year.

The committee, set up in 2007 as part of the ministry efforts to revise the Criminal Law in accordance with changing social trends, said Koreans must not be discriminated against because of their social status in all aspects of life, citing Article 11 of the Constitution.

It said the current law allowing heavier sentencing for those murdering family members could be viewed as discrimination.

“A revised Criminal Law went into effect in October last year, which allowed judges to impose longer prison sentences on murderers. Taking this into account, we decided to abolish a clause necessitating more severe punishment for family-member murderers,” a committee member said.

Under the recently revised Criminal Law, murderers can be subject to the death penalty or imprisonment for life or between five and 30 years.

He said the committee closely examined equal rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the criminal laws of other countries.