Too young to prosecute? A fifth grader will not face trial after stabbing peer to death

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Korea is 14. Gettyimagesbank

By Jung Min-ho

How young is too young to be prosecuted? In Korea, that legal threshold is 14 years old. But after a series of horrendous crimes committed by minors in recent years, there have been growing calls for change.

The latest controversy erupted last week when a fifth grader was found to have stabbed a peer to death at her grandparents' home in revenge for “badmouthing” her and her family.

The attacker, who “was removing blood stains” at the crime scene when police arrived, later confessed to the killing and trying to cover it up.

Because she is under 14, she will not face trial. Instead, she was sent to a juvenile review center, where she will stay for about a month for medical observation.

Shocked by the news, hundreds of people have signed online petitions urging authorities to toughen laws against minors' crimes.

Data from the National Police Agency show that 7,364 people under 14 were sent to juvenile institutions last year, up 12.4 percent from 2015. Four crimes ― murder, robbery, assault and larceny ― accounted for 77 percent of offenses. Sexual crimes numbered 410, up 32 percent during the period.

Under juvenile laws, perpetrators under 14 cannot be sent to prison and those under 19 are exempt from the death penalty or imprisonment longer than 20 years.

The laws were born out of the presumption that minors have little or no capacity to appreciate the nature and wrongfulness of what they do. But critics say the presumption is false and children too must be held responsible for their crimes, mostly aimed at other minors, including those who are younger.

Korea is not the only nation that has such laws. Most developed ones have a minimum age of criminal responsibility, at least for certain offenses. It is 10 for Australia, 12 for Canada, 13 for France and 15 for Norway.

This is not the first time Korea's juvenile laws have incited public outrage.

Last year, a girl, 13, in Incheon committed suicide after being raped by other teenagers. This came only a month after a boy, 14, in the same city was sexually harassed and assaulted for more than an hour by peers before dying after falling from the top of a building.

Some of the perpetrators in the cases ended up with prison sentences, but for only a few years.

To address public concern, lawmakers have proposed bills to revise the laws.