Pay to Reduce Sentence? Surprise Deposits No Longer Work

Deposits are being abused for sentence reduction, contrary to the intent of 'victim recovery', so the Supreme Court has decided to revise the sentencing guidelines.

The Sentencing Commission of the Supreme Court announced on the 12th that it held a general meeting the previous day to review a draft amendment to the sentencing guidelines following the reorganization of sentencing factors related to victim recovery. The Commission decided to delete the phrase 'including deposits' from the sentencing factors in the overall sentencing guidelines. A deposit is a system that allows a defendant in a criminal trial to deposit a certain amount with the court for victim compensation when an agreement with the victim is not reached. However, there have been controversies over cases where 'surprise deposits' were made for the purpose of sentence reduction without the victim's consent.

The Commission explained, "To dispel the concern that the phrase 'including deposits' listed as one of the victim recovery methods in the sentencing guidelines might lead to the misconception that making a deposit automatically becomes a factor for reduction, we have reorganized the sentencing factors related to deposits."

In addition, the definition of substantial victim recovery regarding deposits will be changed to "only cases where the opinion of the victim or their legal representative (including spouse, direct relatives, siblings if the victim is deceased), whether the defendant can or intends to retrieve the deposit according to the law, the nature of the victim's legal interest, and the scale and extent of the damage are carefully investigated and judged to be substantial victim recovery."

Meanwhile, the Commission also decided to revise the sentencing guidelines for securities and financial crimes. The guidelines for securities and financial crimes have not been revised since they were established and implemented in 2012.

The Commission plans to newly include 'false financial statement preparation and disclosure, false audit report entries' and 'falsification of accounting information, falsification of audit records, etc.' as subjects for setting sentencing guidelines. The Commission will set the recommended sentencing range and sentencing factors for securities and financial crimes through future meetings and finalize the decision in March next year.


jisseo@fnnews.com Minji Seo