소년비행예방 대책의 수립과 집행에서 발달적 관점의 필요성 - 연령 조정에 관한 논의를 중심으로 -

Abstract

While the purpose of juvenile justice is to help juveniles develop in a healthy way, the Korean juvenile justice system has been pushed to implement a tougher policy on juvenile issues. In particular, it has been suggested to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility so that young juveniles can be sent to criminal court. With this in mind, the current study reviewed how the juvenile issues were viewed and approached in the Korean juvenile justice system. Although juvenile offenders are still growing, it seems that they are viewed as a miniature of adult criminals. In addition, it might not be recognized that those juveniles’ development is in progress, even while they serve disposition. Furthermore, it appears that there is a lack of developmental perspective on juvenile issues, resulting in limitation of addressing juvenile delinquency. Based on the review, the need of developmental perspective among juvenile professionals and researchers were proposed.