특별사법경찰관리제도에 관한 소고

Abstract

The article deals with the Special Judicial Police Officials (hereinafter SJPO) in Korea. mean officials who don't belong to the police but have the investigative authority by on the Persons Performing the of Judicial Police Official and the Scope of Their Duties (hereinafter SJPO Act), which was revised on 2008.6.13. This revision empowered more government officials as to investigate crimes on their services and vested pre-existing with more judicial powers. The have the same authority in investigation as the police officers (so-called General Judicial Police Officials). The point is that this revision should be counted as legitimate and thus acceptable, or that it could be theoretically and practically justified by the legislative purposes of Act. There are two different points of view on and Act. The one is that are the judicial police officials who have the limited power of investigation and should fill up functional vacancies of the police officers in time, space and specialty. This view is mostly espoused by the police. The prosecution takes the opposite position over the SJPO. This standpoint considers as the 'special' police officials which are superior to police officers in specialty and should have priority in its investigative authority. This revision reflects the view that resembles that of the prosecution. In Korean criminal justice system, under which every investigation agency should obey the 'investigation direction' of the prosecutor(§§ 195, 196 Criminal Procedure Act of Korea), it could strengthening the prosecution's power by way of the without the knowledge of the citizen. In revision of Act, the National Assembly of Korea should have provided controling devices over the authority of and the prosecution more thoughtfully. It is not the authority of the police and the prosecution, but the freedoms of the citizens, who could easily fall victims to the officials' abuses of power in the criminal justice system, that the legislature should make every efforts to guarantee. And the National Assembly should have more thoroughly deliberated how the power of investigation should be distributed among the prosecution, and the police, in the whole criminal justice system of Korea.