An Examination on the Enhancement of Statutory Punishment against False Accusation

For the reason that it is difficult to admit inner side of a criminal offender as evidence and it is not easy to sentence the accused in prison in confessed cases as it is needed to reduce the sentence as necessary in case the accused makes confession in false accusation, the fact remains that sentence against false accusation has been standardized so far. Eventually, to restrain indiscriminate accusation·complaint and promote proper exercise of state penal power, it is necessary to extend application scope of false accusation and strengthen punishment, but it is also necessary to place strict restrictions on application scope of false accusation to prevent unwarranted invasion by guaranteeing rights of victims of crime to file a suit·complaint still exists. As various improvement plans for overcoming the above circumstances, it is time to examine plans to increase statutory punishment on the criminal law against false accusation in all cases against brutal crimes such as homicide·robbery·rape etc., punish respective crime such as false accusation with sentence on the existing National Security Law, delete monetary penalty as an optional punishment from the statutory punishment against false accusation and establish mandatory minimums considering that false accusation about crimes regulated by the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes is to be sentenced to more than three years in prison as compared to general criminal law. Meanwhile, due to the high degree of social blame against suspect sexual assault cases, victims of false accusation of sexual assault have fears of encountering more serious damage comparing to the victims of general false accusation cases. Despite a person getting false charge did nothing of the kind, it is true that people around him or her look on the person with prejudiced eyes as if he or she did something deserve criminal punishment or disciplinary action. Keeping victims of sexual violence from being falsely charged is important, of course, but protecting suspects charged without sexual violence is urgently needed as well. Thus, examining whether to establish a special clause such as punishing severely as compared to other false accusation is considered necessary considering characteristics of false accusation about sexual crimes if suspicion of false accusation is substantiated. Based on the critical mind, this manuscript aims to arouse caution against false accusation through severe punishment against offenders hindering judicial order, and seek individualization of treatment that reflects individual characteristics of false accusers.