형사화해ㆍ조정의 필요성

Abstract

The program of victim-offender reconciliation and mediation is a new criminal justice system that can reduce the cost of criminal justice and prevent a second offense. Once there were only a governmental agency and an offender involved in solving an incident. It is a system that can truly remove any struggles and integrate offenders, victims and community members all together. The system of victim-offender reconciliation and mediation is being operated at 57 supporting centers for crime victims nationwide according to ‘practical management instruction for victim-offender reconciliation and mediation for an accusation incident’ of the Supreme Public Prosecutor´s Office on June 2007. The ministry of justice announces that it will extend the merit of victim-offender reconciliation and mediation that recovers and helps the damage of a criminal victim quickly and practically at the initial stage of an incident. But it lacks legal standard and doesn’t have enforcing right of the mediation. The ministry of justice introduced a bill in 2008 to provide a legal standard. But the court of justice objects to the idea, because the system of victim-offender reconciliation and mediation, which believes that a suspect is an actual criminal from the start of investigation, could violate the Presumption of innocence that is guaranteed in constitution and enforces an offender to participate in the mediation. We can see a criminal incident in which an offender and a victim seem to be two trains run in opposite directions along a same rail. But it becomes a chicken game in which everyone is ruined, if one of them doesn’t take a conciliatory attitude. It is necessary for them to take a conciliatory attitude and make peace with each other through the mediation to solve any struggles between them and to prevent self-destruction. So this paper reviewed what would be necessary for successful victim-offender reconciliation and mediation and what would be the problems to solve.