Thursday, June 3, 2010

Crying Out for Protection of Children

By Yoon Sung-min


For several days, I have been infuriated and troubled by the crime committed by Cho Doo-soon, which shocked all Koreans, whether living in South Korea or not.

As a clinician treating child victims and a father of a daughter, I was speechless and shocked to hear this news from Korean Internet sites. What made me speechless was that an eight-year-old girl was relentlessly raped by a worthless pedophile who was not regretful at all.

What is even more heartbreaking is that the young innocent girl will be afflicted with permanent disability as well as tremendous emotional trauma. Incredibly, he was sentenced to only 12 years in jail for his heinous act. This has invoked extreme rage and frustration among ordinary Korean citizens.

Whenever similar crimes happened in the past, we were given a lot of suggestions to protect our children from being victimized by various crimes. At this point in time, we did not believe that our children's lives were much safer than before. This is mainly due to the fact that the suggestions disappeared within several months while tangible changes were not made quickly enough to punish sex offenders of children and to help our children live safely. Most of the blame goes to policy makers and the meager child protection laws and regulations.

Not long ago, when two girls were raped and killed by a psychopathic rapist in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, I wrote a column titled ``What if They Lived in the United States," which ran in a Korean newspaper. In it, I suggested several changes for the child protection system.

Although the article and suggestions were posted on the government Web site Shinmoongo, I have not heard from any responsible parties regarding the status of my suggestion. All I received was a simple e-mail, confirming that my case was submitted.

None of my suggestions have been implemented and our children are still in danger. Since pedophiles are everywhere targeting young girls and boys, our children cannot be safe from rape crimes unless proper prevention and protection systems are established along with harsh punishments for those crimes.

The other day, I was invited to a small party thrown by a friend who is an attorney. In the middle of our conversation, he explained that the value of his house is much lower than the ones in surrounding communities. His gorgeous $740,000 house could be valued between $800,000 and $900,000 in adjacent neighborhoods. The reason for this discrepancy is that a sex perpetrator resides at a house several blocks away from my friend's house. In the United States, we can check a sex offender registry database that provides information to residents about sex offenders who live or work in our neighborhoods.

This law, known as Megan's Law, which was passed in 1996, is designed to protect children from being a victim of a sexual offense. A convicted sex offender must register as such upon release from incarceration and continue to do so during the rest of his life.

On such Internet registries, we can find sex offenders by last name, street, city, zip code, and state with just a few clicks of the mouse. Electric GPS devices are also required for some sex offenders. Any sexual acts against minor children are strictly prohibited and punishable with long jail sentences. The 12-year sentence for Cho would be considered nonsense in the United States.

The child welfare system is well established in the United States. A case in point: In New York State, Child Protective Services prevent all minor children from being alone without parental supervision. Parents, custodians, legal guardians and/or other responsible adults must accompany all young children, especially those under 12 years old. A violation of this can lead to an immediate freeze of parental rights, foster care placement, mandatory parental counseling, or criminal charges. This helps minor children to be protected from potential risks from sex offenders or other crime perpetrators.

It is a real tragedy and shame to hear about another situation where a rapist such as Cho commits a crime in South Korea, which has been proudly regarded as one of the G20 countries. I argue that South Korea must protect minors in order to proclaim itself as an advanced country.

Nowhere in advanced countries are children so easily neglected or abused. None of the laws and regulations of such countries are filled with loopholes allowing sex offenders and crime perpetrators to get away from their responsibilities.

The Koreatimes, 10-12-2009

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