The government said it will oblige certain convicted sex offenders to wear an electronic monitoring anklet from Sept. 1. The Ministry of Justice said about 300 sex offenders will be subject to the round-the-clock monitoring program. Offenders who sexually abused children aged 13 or younger and repeat offenders will have to wear the electronic gadget after a judge endorses the request from prosecutors. They will be under surveillance for up to 10 years after their release from prison. Offenders released on parole and those who receive suspended jail terms will be monitored as well.
This article fails to mention any criticism of this system so I’ll just go ahead and do it for them. Most sex offenses are not committed against strangers. Someone could molest their niece or rape their girlfriend and the monitoring bracelet would go right on telling the cops that everything is hunky-dory. In fact inasmuch as these bracelets continue to feed people the mistaken perception that sexual assault is typically committed against strangers they actually undermine the efforts of victims of acquaintance crimes to get recognition. In 2006 Slate ran a very good piece on the subject: "Tracking Sex Offenders with GPS".
According to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday, 6,916 convicted men will be given electronic monitoring anklets. All of them are felons who have served time since July 16, 2007, for sexual offenses. They include people who received two or more jail terms for sex crimes; people who repeated a sexual offense within five years after their release; and people convicted of sexual crimes against a minor under the age of 13.
A convicted sex offender who was cuffed with an electronic monitoring anklet allegedly committed more sexual assaults, Gangnam police said yesterday, raising doubts on the effectiveness of the security devices. Police said the offender, identified by the surname [name withheld], had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2005 for rape and was released in October 2010. Since then, he has been on probation and has been wearing the monitoring anklet. According to police, after he was released, [name withheld] lived in a two-room apartment arranged by a religious group, where his wife and five homeless people were already living. In his new home, police said, [name withheld] sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl, and raped a 47-year-old homeless woman three times in February and March. He also sexually assaulted the woman’s 21-year-old son, who reported him to the police Tuesday. Police arrested [name withheld] Tuesday. ...
... It is mandatory for convicted sex offenders to wear the electronic tags for designated periods of time after they are released from prison. They are also required not to leave their residential areas without being granted special permission to do so from their probation officers. ...
The Ministry of Justice said Wednesday that it will forward the "Protective Custody" bill, which authorizes the court to place criminals under custody even after they serve their period of incarceration, to the National Assembly by the end of this year. In the bill, criminals who commit murder more than twice or sexual assault more than three times will be subject to the protective custody. ...
A convicted rapist, identified only by his surname Park, 30, has disappeared without a trace after allegedly managing to disable his electronic monitoring anklet, according to police Wednesday. The police immediately began a manhunt for him by tracking Park's mobile phone signal, but his whereabouts are still unknown. .... Park was sentenced to six years in prison on a charge of raping prostitutes in 2006. He was previously convicted nine times of various violations. Park was released from prison in 2012 and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring anklet from last year.
Criminologist Yeom Geon-ryong said, "In the U.S. rapists face tough sentences of more than 50 years behind bars, while China executes people who rape juveniles." Yeom added, "We need to introduce tougher penalties on rapists."
After serving a jail term for the attempted murder of his half brother, he had been ordered by a court to 10 years of medical treatment for delusions. He escaped from the hospital in Naju on Aug. 1, breaking the electric anklet he had been ordered to wear.
