Justice Ministry notification system backfires, leaving crime victims vulnerable

A female victim of dating violence recently requested to be added to a state service that notified victims of violence about when their assailant will be released after serving time, but the authorities only notified her after her perpetrator had already been freed, local media outlets reported Thursday.

According to reports, the unnamed victim received a call from legal authorities on Dec. 1 that her ex-boyfriend had been released from prison. The culprit, surname Jeong, assaulted her in October 2020 and was sentenced to four years in jail in July of the next year.

The victim had requested prosecutors to notify her of when he would be released from prison, but the authorities failed to tell her beforehand that Jeong had been released early on parole on Nov. 30.

The victim told the media that Jeong was already near her home when she received a call from an official at the probation office regarding Jeong's release. When asked what she should do, the officials answered, "What do you want to do? He's already been released from prison."

The court issued a restraining order prohibiting Jeong from going within 500 meters of the victim, which she said did little to ease her discomfort.

The prosecutors said the lack of notification was due to the errors of related officials, and vowed to upgrade the system to ensure such incident do not happen again.

The Justice Ministry has a system notifying victims of key information related to the trials and punishments of perpetrators, including the results of the investigation, when and where a trial is to take place, the trial's results, as well as the arrest and release of the perpetrator. Victims can receive such notifications if they request it.

Those wishing to be alerted can apply by calling the hotline of the Victim Support Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office at 1577-2584.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)