One in Two Stalking Suspects Have Criminal Records... Drug, Sexual Violence Recidivism Also 'Raises Alarm'

Stalking suspects with prior convictions: 53.6%
One in three drug offenders commit another drug crime
Park Jiwon: "Check criminal records and strengthen protection from the initial report"

Concerns have been raised that a high proportion of suspects in serious crimes, including stalking and drug offenses, have prior convictions, while recidivism rates for sexual violence and child abuse have worsened or remained stagnant, making sweeping improvements to rehabilitation and prevention policies urgent.

According to an analysis of data on "Criminal Records and Dispositions of Offenders" and "Recidivism by Crime Type" submitted by the Ministry of Justice at the request of Rep. Park Jiwon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, on October 7, of the 1,405,185 suspects in all crimes in 2024, 635,088 had prior convictions, putting the proportion at 45.2%.

Park Jiwon, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea.

Among them, 53.6% of stalking suspects had prior convictions (6,867 out of 12,810 suspects), 8.4 percentage points higher than the average for all crimes. The proportion of suspects with prior convictions in drug-related crimes also reached 48.7%, far exceeding the average.

The proportion of stalking suspects with prior convictions has risen sharply, from 47.4% in 2022 to 48.3% in 2023 and 53.6% in 2024. The number of stalking suspects with prior convictions surged 23.6% in just one year, from 5,554 in 2023 to 6,867 in 2024.

Recidivism for the same type of crime is also a serious problem. Of the 92,431 people booked for drug-related offenses over the past four years (2022-2025), 30,401 had prior drug convictions, meaning that 32.9% of the total had committed drug crimes again.

Recidivism rates for crimes that threaten public safety, including sexual violence and child abuse, have also failed to improve. The rate of repeat offenses of the same type among sex offenders rose from 5.9% in 2022 to 6.6% in 2025, while the number of repeat child abuse offenders increased substantially, from 1,953 in 2022 to 2,324 in 2025.

Rep. Park said, "Stalking and drug crime suspects are more likely than suspects in other crimes to have prior convictions," and urged authorities to "identify risk factors that could lead to stalking and drug offenses during the correctional and probation stages, and substantially strengthen preventive education and counseling."

He added, "Given that more than half of stalking suspects already have prior convictions, authorities should promptly check offenders' criminal records from the initial reporting stage and strengthen measures to protect victims," emphasizing that "they should comprehensively review correctional and probation programs, set specific targets for reducing recidivism, and work with local communities and civic groups to develop effective measures."

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