A group of 205 legal scholars has called for careful review of the recently discussed proposal to lower the age threshold for juvenile offenders exempt from criminal punishment in South Korea.
Roh Soo-hwan, president of the Korean Association of Criminal Law, Ryu Byung-gwan, president of the Korean Juvenile Policy Association, and So Ra-mi, non-standing commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, were among 205 scholars who issued a joint statement Saturday. "Lowering the age of criminal responsibility not only contradicts scientific evidence, but no empirical evidence has been found that it brings substantial effects in deterring juvenile crime," they said. They added, "The solution to juvenile crime lies not in expanding criminal punishment, but in enhancing the effectiveness of protective measures and expanding correctional and educational infrastructure."
Roh said, "It is extremely rare for a 13-year-old in the first year of middle school to commit a violent crime." He added, "The argument for lowering the juvenile criminal age misses the essence of the problem." He explained that incorporating immature children into the criminal punishment system early would only heighten concerns about stigmatization and the risk of reoffending.
Ryu cited the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, pointing out that the proposal runs counter to international standards and trust. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019 called for raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14. The committee also emphasized that countries that have already adopted a higher age should not lower it.
The legal scholars participating in the statement said, "Korea's juvenile justice system is skewed toward holding individual juveniles accountable," adding, "Environmental improvement and guardianship-oriented intervention are not being carried out in practice." They argued that structural limitations in the current protective measures system — including shortages of specialized personnel such as family investigators and probation officers, overcrowding at juvenile classification review centers and juvenile detention facilities, and disruption of public education — urgently need to be addressed.
Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung mentioned a plan to lower the juvenile criminal age from the current under-14 to under-13, sparking social debate. In response, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held a two-day deliberative forum starting November 18, with about 200 citizens participating to gather opinions on adjusting the juvenile criminal age.
