On October 4, KICJ and the People Power Party Policy Committee co-organized an emergency debate on ‘abnormal motive crimes,’ held at the Members’ Office Building of the National Assembly.

The event opened with remarks from KICJ President Tae-hoon Ha, head of the Policy Committee Dae-chul Park, and Sang-beom Yoo of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly. KICJ Senior Research Fellow Jung-sook Yoon, also Director of Crime Analysis & Survey Research Division, spoke on the characteristics of and criminal justice responses to abnormal motive crimes. Lastly, all participants engaged in a discussion session.

In his opening speech, KICJ President Ha remarked: “KICJ is a national institute that conducts continuous research for the safety of citizens and a safe, just society. We along with the People Power Party Policy Committee strongly agree on the need for this emergency debate on ‘abnormal motive crimes.' It is urgent that we diagnose the crime and surrounding social phenomena, and hear from experts on possible responses. Since the motives and types of abnormal motive crimes are various and complex, we need a variety of institutions and experts to coordinate closely; hence the panelists of today’s debate are experts and practitioners from different sectors of our society.”

The panel, presided over by KICJ Senior Research Fellow Ji Sun Kim, included the following members: Jung-ah Lee, prosecutor of the Ministry of Justice’s Criminal Legislation Division; Yong-jong Kim, head of the Autonomous Police Department at Gyonggi Nambu Provincial Police; Myung-sook Jeon, Director of the Division of Mental Health Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Prof. Yung Hyeock Lee from the Department of Police Science at Konkuk University; and Seok-jun Bae, Managing Editor of Law Times.