The recent hit movie His Voice is a true story about a kidnapping which happened in 1991. Actually, the real criminal has not been caught yet. However, if we find the kidnapper, we can’t punish him now because the limitation for prosecution of a kidnapping case is 15 years. Therefore, police can’t apply criminal procedures. The limitation for prosecution became invalid in January 2006.

Many people debate the limitation for prosecution. Some people say the limitation for prosecution must remain in Korean law. Other people say the limitation for prosecution should be abolished in criminal procedures.

Most people are concerned about justice and legal stability. For example, a survey by the research center Realmeter found that 69.1% of people are against the limitation for prosecution. Do you think the limitation for prosecution should go on or not? The Gazette asked Keimyung people’s opinion about this controversial issue.

Pro

The reason we have the limitation for prosecution is to keep the law system stable. Recently, as our society has begun discussing the legal responsibility for serious inhumane crimes, especially by the government, the voice for the extension or abolishment of the limitation for prosecution has been getting bigger and the stability of the law system and the economic efficiency of criminal procedures has come to a crisis.

However, the abolishment of the limitation for prosecution can’t be a good solution for serious crimes against humanity committed by the government. Governments with exclusive power to control the whole system of a country can often forge the concerned documents and justify their actions. What is more, as a change of regime can’t guarantee the change of the power holders, those who are in charge of criminal procedures for past crimes can become the accused, which means it is very difficult to have just judgment and fair criminal procedures. In addition, abolishing the limitation for prosecution and applying new laws to past crimes is opposed to the constitutional non-retroactivity principle, a law that prevents people from applying a new law to acts that happened prior to the enactment of the new law to avoid disorder due to changing past judgments.

What is more important is not the punishment of crimes but the prevention of crimes. We should make more efforts to establish systems to keep governmental execution in check and to decrease inhuman crimes like murder or torture.

Con

Criminal procedures exist for justice and legal stability. Justice is a duty to find out what the truth is and legal stability is a duty to consider costs, human resources, and time in finding out the truth. In some situations, legal stability is more valuable than finding out the truth. For example, as time goes by, finding evidence gets difficult and reasons to find the truth can fade. The system of “limitation for prosecution” was made for such situations. In other words, the limitation for prosecution means that we discontinue searching for the truth.

However, is legal stability more important than finding the truth in all crimes? The nation executes or abandons a punishment. However, this action needs people’s understanding to get justice. In some cases, abandoning a punishment is opposed to people’s thoughts and emotions. In this situation, abandoning a punishment can’t be understood by people. Therefore, we should keep searching for the truth in situations like this.

The development of modern scientific investigation helps to find old evidence. Therefore, we should not give up searching for the truth in cases like inhumane crimes, important crimes by a country, and war crimes. These cases imply the need to extend the period of searching for the truth or to abolish the limitation for prosecution.

Insisting on the extension or abolishment of the limitation for prosecution shouldn’t apply to all kinds of cases. The crimes that people want to be solved by the nation shouldn’t be restricted by the limitation for prosecution.