Analysis of South Korea's Sentencing Decisions

Cub-reporter Kim Han-deul

sswante88@naver.com

The law is divided into two different systems; one is continental law and the other one is Anglo American law. The continental law centers around France and Germany. Continental law is written law which focuses on preventing the cause of crime and reforming the criminals. Continental law limits the judge's discretion based on the law's legislative branch. Thus, within continental law, even if the weight of the crime is heavy, the judges are limited in the amount of discretion they have.

Anglo-American law, which contrasts with continental law, centers around England and America. It selects the case law which gives the judge quite a wide amount of rights and discretion. Rather than reforming the criminal, the main aim is to impose a penalty. It therefore tends towards the characteristic of imposing heavy penalties. The system also leads to segregation of the criminals from society. America's penal system is based on Anglo-American law and Korea is based on continental law. As a result, depending on the seriousness of the crime, in America the judge could impose a much harsher sentence than a judge in Korea. In Korea, the maximum sentence that can be imposed is 50 years and in the case where a person commits several crimes, then a sentence is imposed for the worst crime and additional sentences are then applied on top of that penalty for lesser crimes.