Problems of supporting victims of digital sex crimes and ways to improve them

Abstract

With the development of science and technology, the penetration rate of smartphones has increased, and cyberspace has become more familiar with real life and information accessibility has increased. However, as cyberspace becomes more common, new forms of crime are emerging, and the seriousness of the crime is emerging. Among them, digital sex crimes are the most serious. Amid growing anxiety over the crime, the government announced a comprehensive plan to prevent damage to digital sex crimes and actively discussed enacting and revising related bills, but there is still a gap in support for victims. There is a perception that digital sex crimes are not physically damaged like ordinary sex crimes, and that this crime is lighter than other crimes. However, unlike this perception, digital sex crimes are crimes that are almost impossible to recover from once they are damaged. Once the victim's videos are released into cyberspace, they cannot be permanently deleted, causing pain to victims and social activities cannot be carried out. In other words, the act can be seen as a personality murder of the victim. Despite these criminal characteristics, the system for supporting victims is still inadequate. The lack of understanding of digital sex crimes by investigators and the Ministry of Justice, lack of budget to support digital sex crimes victims' support centers, and difficulties in international cooperation in arresting overseas Internet operators. To solve these problems, education programs should be carried out at the level necessary for each organization to improve the understanding of investigative agencies and the judiciary, and a system should be established to make education compulsory. In addition, it is necessary to expand the budget to support the victims of digital sex crimes, and to join the Cybercrime Prevention Agreement and cooperate with member countries to investigate sites with overseas servers.