A Critical Review on the Introduction of the Pre-Interrogation System for Seizure and Search Warrants

The court administration seems to be pushing to revise the criminal procedure rules in a way that allows the court to interrogate suspects and other related parties before issuing a search warrant. For the reason for the revision, seizure and search of electronic information are highly likely to infringe on privacy, freedom, and self-determination of information due to the nature of electronic information, so it is necessary to improve seizure and search practice in order to comply with the principle of screening and ensure the parties' participation in the procedure. Of course, it is difficult to denigrate the intention of the amendment to strengthen the protection of the basic rights of the people by strictly regulating the excessive seizure and search of investigative agencies. However, even if only the world's most advanced human rights protection system is collected and incorporated into our legislation, it would be difficult to evaluate it as a truly reasonable system if it excessively hinders the discovery of the truth or the legitimate purpose of the investigation procedure. Besides, the purpose of the revision of the Criminal Procedure Rules is not simply to regulate the seizure and search warrant issuance procedures of district court judges, but to restrict the seizure and search procedures more strictly than originally planned. The revision may not seem to directly infringe on the basic rights of suspects or detainees, but it is difficult to conclude that if a warrant is issued by proceeding with a new procedure, it may result in infringement of the basic rights of suspects or detainees according to an unscheduled procedure. In the 70th year of the Criminal Procedure Act, the constitutional consciousness that the sovereignty of the Republic of Korea lies with the people and all power comes from the people, is not the only issue of how to protect the people from state power (freedom from state) but now it is time to discuss and legislate. In other words, it is time to discuss victim-centered justice, which focuses on “minimizing misfortune” rather than “maximizing happiness,” aside from the question of how to control the fear of expanding public power. This is because as long as state power is viewed only as an infringer, it is difficult to prevent infringement of citizens who have to live under the flood of crimes every day. Now that the dictatorship has come to an end, I think it is time to “change the idea of looking at the country.” In the end, while thoroughly guaranteeing the personal rights of suspects through the interrogation system(warrant substantive examination system) before arrest, it should be rejected to condemn or downplay the role(criminal investigation and prosecution) of investigative agencies for crime victims. This is why criminal proceedings should be centered on the two core values of “maintenance of the public interest of society” and “guarantee of individual human rights of citizens”.