Police Investigating Stalking Crimes Must Refer Cases to Prosecutors; Mandatory Referral Requirement Introduced

[Financial News] Going forward, judicial police officers who investigate stalking crimes must refer the cases to public prosecutors. Related provisions, including dedicated investigations of victims and personal safety measures, will also be revised.
According to the Korean Law Information Center on the 1st, an amendment to the Act on the Punishment, etc. of Stalking Crime will take effect on the 2nd. The amended Act was promulgated on the 29th of last month.
The key change is that the law expressly requires judicial police officers to refer stalking crime cases. The amended Act newly establishes Article 7-2, requiring judicial police officers to promptly investigate stalking crimes and refer the cases to public prosecutors. Referral is the procedure for transferring an investigated case to a public prosecutor, while indictment is the procedure through which a prosecutor requests a court trial. A referral does not itself mean that the prosecutor will bring an indictment; the public prosecutor who receives the case will later decide whether to bring charges and take other related actions.
The provision also applies to stalking crime cases that were under investigation when the Act took effect. The supplementary provisions state that the amended rules will apply even when the relevant period under the Criminal Procedure Act of the Republic of Korea has not expired or when a public prosecutor has requested a reinvestigation.
Alongside the introduction of the referral provisions, the grounds for provisional measures losing their effect will also be partially changed. Previously, provisional measures ceased to be effective when a public prosecutor issued a decision not to indict or when a judicial police officer issued a decision not to refer the case. Under the amended Act, the provision concerning a judicial police officer's decision not to refer the case has been deleted, and the relevant wording has been revised so that the measures cease to be effective when a public prosecutor issues a decision not to indict.
Provisions concerning the dedicated investigation system for victims will also be revised. The term "chief prosecutor of a District Prosecutors' Office" will be changed to "head of the District Public Prosecution Office." Provisions on investigations of victims will also include fact-finding and interviews with victims and their legal representatives.
The duties covered by training for dedicated prosecutors and dedicated judicial police officers will include "case handling." The relevant provisions have been amended to include case handling, in addition to the existing duty of investigation.
The rules on personal safety measures for victims and others will also change. Prosecutors will be added to the existing provisions, allowing the relevant safety measures to be applied when a court or public prosecutor examines victims or others as witnesses, conducts fact-finding or interviews, or carries out an investigation.
The scope of duties subject to the prohibition on disclosing the identities and private-life secrets of victims and others will also be revised. It will be expanded from "duties related to the investigation or trial of stalking crimes" to "duties related to the investigation, prosecution, or trial of stalking crimes."
The Ministry of Government Legislation (MOLEG) explained that the amendment requires judicial police officers to promptly investigate stalking crime cases and refer them to public prosecutors, while also revising provisions that are inconsistent with the new criminal justice system.


[email protected] Seo Ji-yoon Reporter