The Supreme Prosecutors' Office (SPO) on Tuesday said state prosecutors will now demand much heavier jail terms for violent attackers of random strangers and push to introduce an extended detention for murderers and sex offenders, in particular.
The hard-line countermeasures came in response to growing public concern about a recent outburst of murders and violent crimes targeting random strangers by social outcasts.
Last week, a disgruntled former employee went on a stabbing rampage, attacking his former colleagues and passers-by with a knife on a busy street in downtown Seoul, leaving four wounded. Also, a drunken man attacked passengers on a running subway train with a box cutter in Euijeongbu, a city 23 kilometers north of the capital city, leaving seven victims wounded.
Under the envisioned plans, prosecutors in principle will request arrest warrants for suspects of violent crimes and will seek heavier prison terms.
Also, prosecutors will request that the court issue orders that criminals convicted of violent crimes be subject to counseling when they are deemed to suffer from mental illness upon a medical examination.
The measures also call for establishing a special department within the SPO made up of a state prosecutor, investigators and psychologists.
The SPO said prosecutors are mulling over adopting a now-defunct system that puts ex-convicts who are at risk of repeating their crimes in a special facility following the end of their prison terms.
"We will detain only those who have committed crimes that pose a huge risk to society," a prosecution official said.
Prosecutors will also strengthen support and protection for victims such as providing public defenders for them, officials said.
Citizens who report crimes or detain offenders at the scene will be better rewarded as well, they added. (Yonhap)