[Editorial] Getting tough on sex crimes

A set of toughened sex crime laws went into effect Wednesday, ushering in big changes in meting out punishment to sex offenders, protecting traumatized victims and overseeing ex-convicts.

The most significant and welcome change is the abolition of the personal accusation system that made the prosecution of sex offenders impossible without the victims first filing a complaint.

Under the old system, prosecutors could not bring charges against sex offenders if the victims chose not to file accusations personally for one reason or another.

This contingent system was intended to protect the honor and privacy of the victims, but it actually worked against them by putting the onus on them to initiate the prosecution process.

Research shows less than 20 percent of victims reported the sexual violence perpetrated against them, the main reason for not accusing offenders being the fear of retaliation.

Even if a victim had formally filed a complaint, prosecutors still could not indict the offender when they decided to drop the complaint later.

This arrangement led sex offenders to use all types of methods to get their victims to drop their complaint. The most frequently used method was to offer monetary compensation.

As a result, people increasingly came to view sex abuses not as social crimes but as private matters to be resolved between the individuals involved. Many sex offenders did not take their criminal acts seriously because they could get away with them by paying off their victims.

These practices will not work any more. Under the new system, sex offenders can be prosecuted even if the victims fail to file a complaint. Investigators can pursue an indictment of an offender based on reports from a third person or using information they collected themselves.

This change is expected to sharply increase the number sex crime cases investigated. To handle them, the government will have to increase the manpower of police and prosecution units specializing in sex crimes.

This point is important in terms of protecting the victims of sex crimes as investigators without experience in this field often fail to properly take account of the feelings of the victims.

Another major change is the abolition of the statute of limitations for all rape and murder cases, regardless of the ages of the victims. Previously, the statute of limitations did not apply to rape and murder cases involving children, juveniles and the disabled. This makes it possible to investigate rape and murder cases regardless of when they occurred.