Conditional Lowering of Protected Juvenile Age... 'Under 13' Applied to Violent, Serious, and Repeated Crimes Only

For Violent, Serious, and Repeated Crimes Only
Protected Juvenile Age to Be Lowered from Under 14 to Under 13
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Reports to Cabinet on July 14

The government is moving forward with a plan to lower the current minimum age for criminal responsibility for juveniles (so-called "protected juveniles") from under 14 to under 13, but only for serious crimes. This comes five months after President Lee Jaemyung ordered a public discussion process regarding the reduction of the protected juvenile age in February.

On July 14, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family reported the results of the public discussion on the "Protected Juvenile Age Criterion" at a Cabinet meeting.

Based on the results of deliberative discussions with a participatory citizen panel and the conclusions from a social dialogue consultative body composed of relevant ministries and experts, the ministry decided to push for a plan to lower the threshold for protected juveniles by one year to under 13, but only in cases of violent, serious, or repeated offenses.

The number of protected juveniles has been rising rapidly in recent years. According to the National Police Agency, the number increased by 120%, from 9,606 in 2020 to 21,095 last year.

However, examination of the types of crimes shows that theft and violence account for a high proportion, while serious crimes make up a relatively small percentage. Therefore, experts have consistently cautioned against hastily concluding that "juvenile crime is becoming more brutal." For this reason, academia and the legal community have largely favored maintaining the current age threshold. Nevertheless, it appears the government chose a compromise solution by fully incorporating the results of the public discussion process, and decided to narrow the scope of the age reduction to cover only violent, serious, or repeated crimes.

The consultative body stated that, considering the effectiveness and statistical evidence of lowering the age, developmental characteristics of juveniles, international standards, and the capacity of protection and correctional infrastructure, any reduction of the age should be approached cautiously. Instead, the group prioritized institutional improvements for the prevention and post-management of juvenile delinquency.

Conversely, the participatory citizen panel deliberations showed a majority preference for either conditionally lowering the age for certain crimes (46.7%) or lowering it across all crimes (30.2%), rather than maintaining the current age (17.0%). Among those who favored lowering the age, the largest proportion—55.8%—supported reducing the current under-14 threshold to under 13. It seems that this decision by the government significantly reflects these public discussion results.

Moving forward, the government plans to institutionalize the conditional age reduction by seeking amendments to the Criminal Act and the Juvenile Act. Additionally, it intends to establish an inter-ministerial "Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Policy Committee" (provisional name) to review and improve systems related to youth protection orders, correction, and prevention of youth crime. To enable this, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has proposed that a follow-up discussion framework be established immediately—beginning in the second half of this year with participation from related ministries—and that detailed implementation plans for each task be drawn up.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.