"We Must Rely Only on Police Good Will"... "What If They Cover Up Cases?"

[Anchor]

If the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, currently undergoing a filibuster in the National Assembly, is passed today (July 31), the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority will be abolished starting this October. As our society closely watches the Jang Yoon-ki case, anxieties are growing over a system that leaves us with no choice but to simply hope the police do a good job.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Evidence destruction by a police officer father, systematic and shoddy investigations by the police, and case records that were sent to the prosecution only after SBS's exclusive reports.

The truth of the Jang Yoon-ki case, which almost went covered up, was brought to light through the prosecution's supplementary investigation.

Once the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act passes the National Assembly, such supplementary investigation authority by the prosecution will be completely abolished beginning this October.

With investigations handled by the police and indictments by prosecutors, separating investigation from indictment means prosecutors will only be able to request supplementary investigations from the police.

However, if the primary investigative agency minimizes a case and conceals data as in the Jang Yoon-ki case, prosecutors cannot grasp the reality of the situation and thus cannot even make a request for a supplementary investigation.

[Lee Chang-hyun / Professor, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Law School: (The prosecutor) cannot conduct supplementary investigations, so ordering them relies entirely on police officers acting with true justice. But if they do not, there is no way to cope with it. We have no choice but to expect the good will of police officers.]

Although supplementary measures addressing the abolition of supplementary investigations have been added, it is difficult to dispel concerns regarding back-and-forth case tossing and delayed processing.

Instead of a supplementary investigation, the prosecutor's "fact-finding right" was newly included in the amendment, but it lacks effectiveness as it cannot be used as evidence in court.

Amid continuing criticism, the Democratic Party stated it would mandate the transfer of all cases concerning seven major crimes targeting the socially vulnerable. However, the Jang Yoon-ki case—where police initial investigative procedures only applied the charge of murder—does not fall under this category.

If the public legal service provided to crime victims under the name of supplementary investigations disappears, victims will inevitably face a heavier burden of legal expenses.

[Yang Hong-seok / Lawyer (Former Advisory Member of the Prosecution Reform Promotion Unit): By reducing state involvement to a lower level, those with money or those who can invest more effort and time will be slightly better off. (The amendment ultimately) institutionalizes a lower level of service.]

The legal community points out that additional institutional checks must be established so that we do not have to rely solely on the "good will" of the police, such as reflecting trial results in police personnel evaluations or having prosecutors participate in evaluations as in France.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Kim Deok-hyeon | Video by Lee Sang-hak | Video Editing by Jang Hyun-ki | Design by Seo Seung-hyun and Park Tae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.