Section 2  Treatment of Elderly Offenders

1 Republic of Korea

(1) Summary
  Since the 1990s aging of the population has rapidly taken place in the Republic of Korea,   resulting in the elderly rate of the population being the second highest next to Japan among major Asian countries in 2005. As shown in the figures given in Section 1, the percent ratio of elderly offenders (age 60 or older) has a consistently increasing trend over recent years at each stage of criminal justice.
  In accordance to this, community and institutional treatment of elderly offenders have become a significant issue and a lot of research, including detailed studies on precedents in European countries and the U.S.A. and fact-finding surveys on elderly offenders detained mainly in penal institutions in the Republic of Korea, have been conducted. The major issues pointed out in that research were: [1] the high rate of increase in number of elderly offenders, [2] health problems of elderly offenders (especially the problem of the increased medical expenses of penal institutions), [3] high recidivism rate and short term of recidivism, [4] low ability to adapt to society with difficulties reintegrating into society, [5] increasing trend in the number of elderly female offenders who have more composite problems than males.
  Taking these problems into consideration, the “Criminal Procedure Act” that is used as the base for institutional treatment was completely revised in 2007 and the “Act on Execution of the Sentences and Treatment of Prisoners” (Act No. 8728 of 2007, enforced on December 22, 2008; hereinafter referred to as the “Institutional Treatment Act”) was enforced to provide new special provisions for treatment of elderly offenders (at present, no special provisions for elderly suspects and defendants were provided in the act). In addition, the increase in number of elderly inmates revealed their various problems with reintegration into society after their release, which call for improvement of the system. Community treatment utilizing suspension of prosecution at the prosecution stage, institutional treatment, and coordination to community treatment focusing on the release preparation stage are summarized below.

(2) Community treatment of elderly offenders
  Suspension of prosecution with entrusted proper guidance at probation offices (hereinafter referred to as “entrusted proper guidance”) is a system introduced in accordance with the “Act on Probationary Supervision etc” (enforced on January 5, 1995). It is not a system specializing in elderly offenders, but it enables public prosecutors to grant suspension of prosecution on the condition that their proper guidance is entrusted to probation offices (Article 15, item 2).
  Probation officers provide proper guidance including education, group treatment, and consultations, etc. to those subjected to entrusted guidance. Probation officers may contact offenders' families, neighbors, and friends, etc. and provide support for educational expenses, employment, employment arrangements, and other financial assistance if considered required in accomplishing proper guidance.
  Of elderly offenders age 65 or older, 11 persons in 2005, nine persons in 2006, and 12 persons in 2007 were subjected to entrusted proper guidance. The system is being utilized as an option in social treatment for a certain number of elderly offenders.
  In 2007, entrusted proper guidance were applied to elderly offenders aged 65 to 88 with the types of offenses they had committed being theft in six cases, accounting for half, arson in two cases, and violent offenses in two cases. One of the theft cases was a repeat offence case, but the offender was subjected to entrusted proper guidance in light of the circumstances (age 69, caught stealing clothing from a department store). The motives of the other theft cases were mainly financial difficulties in daily living and hospital medical expenses, but some were due to symptoms of dementia. Offenses of arson and violent crimes were all accidental cases of anger.

(3) Institutional treatment of elderly offenders
  Conventionally there had been no special legal consideration for the treatment of elderly offenders. They were treated as those with diseases so that they are not applicable for categorization (unclassified) and the burden of prison work reduced, etc. The “Institutional Treatment Act” has corrected this situation, providing that directors of penal institutions shall give proper consideration in treatment according to the age and health conditions of elderly offenders (Article 54) to clarify that treatment shall be provided which responds to issues specific to elderly. In addition to this, those requiring special treatment including elderly shall be detained in institutions designated as special correction institutions by the Minister of Justice and will receive treatment according to their characteristics (Article 57, proviso of this article allows exceptions; At present, penal institutions specialized for elderly do no not exist).
  According to the fact-finding survey conducted in 2001 by the Korean Institute of Criminal Justice Policy on 239 elderly inmates, 65.7% had diseases of some kind. Since 2006, checkups have been conducted at general hospitals for all elderly inmates with 23 items such as blood, urine, and electrocardiograms, etc. in examining common diseases the elderly have including hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, etc. With regard to medical expenses, the “National Health Insurance Act” was amended so that National Health Insurance is applicable to all inmates, including the elderly. In addition, measures which take into consideration the mental/physical health of elderly are being taken such as installing living rooms specialized for elderly and supplying supplementary heating, etc.
  In order to facilitate their smooth reintegration to society the fact-finding survey revealed that maintaining good relationships with their families is important. A joint family audience is conducted once a year on Parents' Day for elderly inmates meeting certain criteria. In addition, some penal institutions are implementing parties given in appreciation of elderly's services and birthday celebrations for elderly based on the idea of respect for the elderly.
  With regard to prison work, a large number of elderly have already been given exemptions or otherwise assigned light duties. Of those exempt from prison work, some are allowed to participate in recreational activities.
  When selecting candidates for parole examinations and granting parole, certain considerations are given to elderly inmates, making them eligible for parole at earlier stages. However, many elderly inmates were sentenced for short-terms and quite a few have diseases due to old age, thus not many become candidates for parole.

(4) Support for reintegration into society
  Several studies in the Republic of Korea point out that financial problems (poverty, difficulty with employment, etc.) are background factors in the high recidivism rate, short term of recidivism, and low adaptability to society of elderly offenders. Hence, although it is not a system specialized for elderly offenders, the following employment related measures were taken to support elderly offenders in their reintegration into society, mainly at the stage of preparing for release from penal institutions.
a. Support from the Prisoner Employment Arrangement Conference
  The Prisoner Employment Arrangement Conference, established in 2000, organizes Employment Arrangement Committees in each region that mainly consist of the staff of employment related institutions such as the branch office of the Labor Department, etc. and experts from the local community. Employment Arrangement Committee meets at least once a month to make employment arrangements. In recent years (2005 to 2007), about 50% of those released from penal institutions on parole had employment arranged for them by the Employment Arrangement Committee.
b. Fidelity guarantee insurance system
  The fidelity guarantee insurance system is a system in which an insurance is subscribed at the request of employers at the time employment is arranged for those scheduled to be released from penal institutions and compensation be made in case they cause damage to employers after being employed. It has been in operation since 2002 as a system to indirectly support smooth employment of those released from penal institutions. Those scheduled to be released who have already confirmed places to work and are in need of fidelity guarantees and those who requested employment to be arranged before release and then confirmed places to work and be in need of fidelity guarantees within a month after release are eligible for subscription. The insurance period is no longer than two years with the maximum amount of insurance being 50 million won.
c. Utilization of National Basic Living Security System
  The National Basic Living Security System, which has the same effect as public assistance in Japan, started in October 2000 in accordance with the “National Basic Living Security Act” (Act No. 6024 of 1999) that aimed at providing benefits to those having financial difficulties in securing minimum living standards necessary to support their self-sufficiency. The Korea Correctional Service, Ministry of Justice makes arrangement for those scheduled to be released from penal institutions on completion of sentence, parole, or stay of execution of sentence to receive assistance from the National Basic Living Security System in order to prevent recidivism due to financial difficulty. More concretely, if the director of a penal institution estimates that the amount of recognized income be less than minimum living standards required, then applications are made to the local governments of the planned residence of those scheduled to be released 60 to 20 days before release. They can then receive National Basic Living Security at the time they are released if the procedure has been completed and their eligibility for it confirmed before release. The content of that assistance includes benefits for living expenses, benefits for residences, benefits for education, admission to social welfare institutions, and self-sufficiency support (vocational training, employment arrangements, support in starting businesses, etc.). Since Ministry of Justice commenced cooperation with the Korea Correctional Service (February 2002), the number of recipients has smoothly grown, with 2,199 in 2007 and 833 as of April in 2008 (Source: Korea Correctional Service, Ministry of Justice ).