“How dare you my friend?” Teenager who personally punished deepfake crime perpetrator avoids criminal punishment

High school student lured deepfake crime perpetrator to home, imprisoned, and assaulted

A high school student who retaliated against the perpetrator on behalf of a friend who was a victim of a deepfake crime was sentenced to protective measures rather than criminal punishment.

According to the legal community on the 5th, Judge Park Eun-jin of the Suwon Family Court's juvenile court ordered 18-year-old A, who was indicted on charges of special confinement in December last year, to be under guardian supervision, 40 hours of class attendance, 120 hours of community service, and long-term probation.

Additionally, guardians were also ordered to attend special training classes.

Group A is accused of luring the 17-year-old victim, Group B, to his residence around August of the same year, imprisoning him, and assaulting him.

At that time, Group B committed the so-called 'deepfake' crime, which is the act of synthesizing photos or videos targeting female students in the area.

Person A learned that his friends were also harmed by Person B's crime, and together with his acquaintances, he decided to take revenge on Person B.

Students who participated in the assault received criminal punishment, including suspended prison sentences.

However, Group A, whose involvement was relatively mild, was sent to the juvenile department.

If you are handed over to the juvenile department, you can receive protective measures ranging from 1 to 10, including consignment to custody, community service order, probation, and transfer to juvenile detention center, and no criminal record will remain.

Mr. A's legal representative asked for leniency, saying, "As a minor, Mr. A did not think to properly resolve the problem by asking for help from adults around him or society. He fully admits his involvement and is reflecting on it. As a result of efforts to recover from the damage, the victim also does not want Mr. A to be punished."

The court acknowledged the seriousness of the case, but took into account various sentencing conditions and handed down relatively light measures, such as entrusting the case to a guardian.

Kim Young-min, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm (Limited), who is the legal representative, explained, "Mr. A is a juvenile delinquent (between 14 and 19 years old) and is of an age where he can be held criminally responsible. However, he was able to be transferred to the juvenile department by emphasizing that his level of participation was relatively weak compared to other accomplices."

He added, "Because the level of punishment for special confinement is high, sentencing to juvenile detention (No. 9 to 10), the heaviest of the protective measures, could have been imposed. In order to reduce the punishment, we collected various data, including agreements with the victims."

Reporter Shin Min-ji (sourminjee@ikbc.co.kr)

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"How dare you treat my friend?" Teenager who personally punished perpetrator of deepfake crime avoids criminal punishment (link)