A Study on Crime Victims' Right to State

Abstract

Abstract It was just over 20 years ago that the victim who had been seen as the forgotten man in criminal justice system for a long time started to participate in criminal proceedings and state his opinion. Other countries such as America and Japan provide crime victims with the opportunity to state freely about facts of damage as well as their opinions in criminal proceedings at present. However, Korea gives the victim the right of statement as a witness, though the statement of crime victim’s opinion is the constitutional right. That is, as crime victims are not free from perjury they cannot actively state their views. Meanwhile, if the freedom of crime victims’ statement is guaranteed in law and victims can state opinions with their own voice, victims’statement of opinion will help the victims treat and relieve their psychological damages. For these reasons, it is desirable that Korea, like the U.S. and Japan, gives crime victims the right to state their opinion without fear of perjury in criminal proceedings not as witnesses but as the aggrieved party.