Murderers Walk Free: 95% of 151 Parolees Convicted of Violent Crimes

Over the past 10 years, 151 inmates serving life sentences have been released on parole, with nearly all of them turning out to be violent criminals, it has been confirmed.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Representative Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, 151 life-sentence inmates were granted parole from 2017 to September of this year.

Among them, 144 inmates committed violent crimes such as murder, robbery-murder, and rape-murder, accounting for 95% of the total.

As of September this year, 13 inmates were paroled, all of whom were convicted of murder.

According to Article 72 of the Criminal Act, even if a court sentences a criminal to life imprisonment after determining that permanent isolation from society is necessary, parole is possible under certain conditions after serving at least 20 years.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice stated that it does not separately manage statistics on reoffending by life-sentence inmates after parole.

On October 13, in Incheon, an ex-convict who had previously served a four-year prison sentence for attempted murder went on a stabbing rampage while wearing an electronic anklet, injuring 10 people.

As it was revealed that the suspect had previously been punished for violating electronic anklet curfew rules and had even been booked on charges of carrying a weapon prior to the stabbing spree, calls are growing for stricter management of violent criminals.

Representative Seo Young-kyo stated, "Violent crimes must be met with severe punishment commensurate with them," adding, "There is a need to permanently isolate criminals whose crimes are heinous and who show little possibility of rehabilitation from society."

Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Kim Ki-hyun | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.