A white car speeds down the road and crashes straight into a guardrail.

The driver who got out of the car and fled was a 12-year-old elementary school student, a juvenile exempt from criminal liability.

Middle school girls went on a rampage at an internet cafe in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, spraying a fire extinguisher and damaging computers.

As it became known that one of them was also a juvenile exempt from criminal liability, social controversy over crimes committed by such juveniles is growing.


With juvenile crimes occurring repeatedly in recent times, lowering the age of criminal responsibility from the current under 14 to under 13 has emerged as a major social issue. Representatives from both the supporting and opposing sides met on SBS News Hunters to engage in a heated debate over this matter.

[Hyun Ji-hyun / Lawyer specializing in juvenile law: I am against it. This is because lowering the age limit will not reduce crimes committed by these juveniles. The causes of juvenile delinquency are mostly due to a lack of parenting and education at an earlier stage, or reasons that cannot be blamed on the youth themselves, such as mental illness.]

[Park Ok-sik / Director of the Korea Youth Violence Research Institute: I am in favor. (It should be lowered?) It should be lowered. Because according to current Ministry of Justice statistics, children aged 13 account for 62.7% of violent crimes committed by juveniles. When they commit robbery, rape, theft, assault, or even murder, they are let off with light measures like warnings or protective dispositions simply because they are exempt from criminal liability. As a result, they repeatedly commit crimes. To prevent this, the age limit must be lowered.]

[Hyun Ji-hyun / Lawyer specializing in juvenile law: Actually, many people think that if there is punishment, children will be scared and won't commit crimes. But in reality, children do not commit crimes because of a lack of punishment. Currently, these juveniles are indeed being punished. It's not that they aren't. They just don't go to prison; instead, they go to special facilities for juveniles. In fact, if you look at who the law is applied to more strictly and who is more likely to be sent to a facility between an adult and a juvenile who committed the same crime, it is actually the juveniles. Given these points, lowering the age limit no longer seems necessary.]

The two also clashed over the fact that crimes committed by juveniles exempt from criminal liability have increased 2.2-fold over the past five years, with the opinions of the two experts remaining parallel on this issue as well.

[Hyun Ji-hyun / Lawyer specializing in juvenile law: According to a recent study, media coverage of juvenile crimes is reported nine times more than violent crimes committed by adults. While this may be inevitable due to the media's preference for sensationalism, in reality, crimes have not become significantly more vicious, but people simply perceive juvenile crimes as vicious because of this. (So violent crimes are not actually increasing?) Yes, that is correct.]


[Park Ok-sik / Director of the Korea Youth Violence Research Institute: Some say that this is exaggerated in reports and the media does that, but in reality, if you look into school violence and similar areas, there are many cases that are extremely heinous and cruel. I have personally experienced such cases. People ask if first-grade elementary school students could really commit sexual violence or sexual harassment. While it is not common, there have been cases of extremely severe violence and harassment that I have personally counseled. That is why many people are outraged, and why it is being discussed publicly in society.]

The argument that juvenile crimes are a media creation clashed sharply with the claim that prevention is necessary for crimes that are becoming increasingly heinous and vicious. Public interest is also rising as the police have recently shown moves to strengthen punishments, such as sending repeat juvenile offenders to protective facilities instead of handing them over to their parents.

Netizens who heard the news poured out various reactions, with some saying, "Do they need to experience it themselves to wake up?" and "Let's just abolish the juvenile exemption law altogether," while others argued, "We must protect the victimized children before punishing the offenders," and "It is important to properly educate children during their adolescence."

Earlier in February, President Lee Jae-myung ordered a public discussion to address lowering the age of criminal responsibility during a cabinet meeting. Immediately after, the 'Social Dialogue Council' was launched, but after several rounds of discussions, it voted in late April to recommend maintaining the current age of criminal responsibility at under 14.

Planned by Yoon Seong-sik | Video by Kim Na-on | Video Source: News Hunters | Produced by SBS Digital News