Leniency leads to child sex crimes: survey

Nearly five out of 10 Koreans said mild punishment is the major cause behind sex offenses targeting children and adolescents, according to survey results released on Monday.

The recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Anti-Corruption Civil Rights Commission showed that 47.3 percent believe that sex crimes against children occur because of lenient punishment, followed by deviant sexual impulses (21.1 percent) and pornography (13.6 percent). A total of 1,175 people were surveyed.

“We plan to step up efforts to eradicate sex offenses against children, including raising jail terms for sex-related crimes,” said Cho Yoon-sun, head of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

In the survey, 40.5 percent responded that repressing the sexual impulses of pedophiles through medication was the most effective preventive measure, followed by publicizing personal information (26.5 percent) and educating parents of young sexual offenders (15.2 percent).

By Yoon Ha-youn, intern reporter
(yhayoun@heraldcorp.com)