Criminal minor(刑事未成年人)

criminal minor

  Korean Criminal Act Clause 9 defines 'criminal minors' as those who are under 14. It means that if you are under 14 years old, then you do not get punished by Criminal Law.

  I once met clients who were parents of a child who had beaten his classmate. The injury was not significant but the problem was that the parents of the injured child demanded too much money(I recall the amount was near 50 million Won). They also intimidated my clients that they will sue the child unless they give out the money.

  Even though my clients were not affluent enough, they had a will to cover the medical cost and consolation money but the other side just did not want to settle.

  I found the boy was in the first grade in middle school. His Korean age was 14 but his legal age was 12. Since the child is a 'criminal minor', even if the victim's parents sue the child, the prosecutor will decide not to indict the child. Instead of prosecuting the child, it is possible for the prosecutor to transfer the case into 'juvenile protection case'.

  Juveniles who committed crimes and who are between 10 and 14 could be sent to juvenile department of the court and get 'protective disposition' under Korean Juvenile Act. Such a protective disposition is significantly different from criminal punishment in terms of degree of measures, influence to the child's future etc..

  After my clients were told about these legal issues, they decided not to comply with the other side's ridiculous demand. Soon I could hear that they made a settlement in a moderate amount before going to the police department.

 刑事未成年人

  韩国刑法第九条将14岁未满的人定义为刑事未成年人。就是说，你如果14岁未满的话，就意味着你不会受到刑法的处罚。

  我有一次见了一位委托人, 这位委托人是殴打同班学生的孩子的家长。虽然被害人受到伤害的程度不大，问题是受伤孩子的父母要求太多的钱作为协议金（记得当时是要求韩币5000万元左右）。他们还威胁当事人如果不给钱的话将会控告那个孩子。

  我的委托人们虽然境遇不是很好，但是想要赔偿治疗费和精神赔偿费，但是对方完全不想协议。

  我发现了加害学生上中一的事实。那个孩子韩国年龄14岁法律上满12岁了。因此，即使受害者的父母控诉这个孩子但是因为这个孩子属于刑事未成年人，检察决定不起诉那个学生。但是检察作为“少年保护事件”孩子有被移送的可能性。

  根据少年法规定10岁以上14岁未满的少年属于触犯刑罚法令的行为,要被送到法院的少年部接受“保护处分”。这样的保护处分在那个措施的程度，对孩子的未来的影响方面与刑罚处罚有很大的区别。

  我的委托人被告知这些法律争论焦点之后决定不应对对方无理的要求。并且我还听说了他们在去警察部门之前以适当的金额协议的消息。