Korean Jessica’s Law proposed to keep sex offenders far from schools

Police officers are stationed outside the residence of Park Byeong-hwa, who raped 10 women in their twenties, after his attempted suicide on Jan. 23. Park’s residence is located about 200 meters away from the University of Suwon. [NEWS1]

 
Sex offenders will be forbidden from living near locations where children are commonly present if a proposed law is passed.  
 
In May, the Ministry of Justice will submit a bill that will make it illegal for certain people convicted of sexual offenses from living close to educational institutions such as schools, kindergartens and daycare centers, according to the Justice Ministry’s briefing on its five key agenda items for 2023 at the Blue House on Thursday.
 
The law will only be in effect for repeat offenders and perpetrators who sexually assaulted children below the age of 13, in view of the constitutional right to enjoy the freedom of residence and the right to move at will.
 
The distance between a high-risk sex offender’s residence and the covered institutions will determined by a court on a case-by-case basis, though the restriction will be no more than 500 meters (1,640 feet).  
 
Seoul has around 8,000 schools, kindergartens and daycare centers. Because of this high number of locations, high-risk sex offenders could be effectually locked out of big cities.
 
The residence issue of convicted sex offenders such as Cho Du-sun, a perpetrator in a brutal child rape case, has triggered public outrage each time the perpetrators were released from prison.
 
In the United States, Jessica’s Law limits sex offenders in Florida from living within 2,000 feet of any school or park. Jessica’s Law is named after a young Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in February 2005 by a previously convicted sex offender. Similar laws have been passed in other states.
 
Some current provisions of the Korean version of Jessica’s Law include curfew, exclusion order from certain places and wearing electronic tracking devices.

BY LEE HAY-JUNE [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]