Criminal lawyer, “Child abuse victims and defense attorney assistance are needed”

As child abuse has emerged as a serious social problem, the public's role and responsibility in protecting children from abuse is being emphasized.

Recently, the parents who were brought to trial on charges of brutally abusing a child to death through repeated assault and neglect were sentenced to a severe sentence of 30 years in prison. In addition, there was a case where the biological mother was arrested on charges of child abuse causing death under the Special Act on Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes and habitual abandonment and neglect under the Child Welfare Act.

According to the ‘2019 Key Child Abuse Statistics’ announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last year, of the 30,045 cases of child abuse that occurred nationwide in 2019, neglect accounted for 2,885 cases, or 9.6%. Excluding the number of overlapping abuse cases, this is the highest figure following emotional abuse (7,622 cases, 25.4%) and physical abuse (4,179 cases, 13.9%). Neglect is a type of abuse that fails to meet a child's basic needs and includes abandonment due to negligence or refusal by the guardian, failure to provide basic food, clothing, and shelter, failure to provide sufficient care to the extent that the child's health is impaired, and failure to send the child to school. Failure to take neglect seriously and not respond can also lead to legal problems.

Our law stipulates that if you kill a child, you can be punished by death or imprisonment for life or more than 7 years, and if you cause death, you can be punished by imprisonment for life or more than 5 years. It is stipulated that if serious injury is caused, the offender will be punished by imprisonment for not more than 3 years, and if physical or emotional abuse, abandonment, neglect, or other abuses are recognized as prohibited by the Child Welfare Act, excluding sex crimes, the offender will be punished by imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million won.

Park Dong-il, a criminal lawyer (Daeryun Law Firm), said, “In particular, since daycare teachers and other people who are obligated to report child abuse are prohibited from engaging in acts of emotional abuse that harm the child’s mental health and development, the parents of children who have been harmed will likely suffer irreparable emotional wounds and want to petition for severe punishment for those involved,” and introduced a case in which a daycare teacher was recently put on trial on charges of abusing children.

Attorney Park said, “As a result of collecting evidence such as CCTV footage at the time, revealing and asserting that he committed the crime repeatedly over a considerable period of time targeting multiple victims, and assisting from the early stage of the investigation to ensure that he received punishment commensurate with his guilt, he was sentenced to three years in prison and a protective order.”

According to the legal community, the reality is that it is difficult to prove emotional abuse, neglect, abandonment, etc., except in cases where physical evidence such as physical abuse is clear. Conversely, even if a person is accused of child abuse, the assistance of a lawyer is evaluated as helpful in the defense.

Attorney Park said, “It will be important to work with legal experts to find extenuating factors,” and added, “Unlike in the past, in child abuse cases, the number of behaviors that can be considered abusive has increased, so even minor actions and words can be misunderstood as abuse. Since it is not easy to check for abuse, prevention and fundamental measures from related organizations will also be necessary.”

Daeryun Law Firm, which provided assistance, provides legal services with a team of criminal defense attorneys, including former chief prosecutors. Currently, there are offices across the country, including Seoul, Busan, Jinju, Chuncheon, and Jeju.

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