Authorities face legal hurdles bringing record number of fugitives to justice

More and more convicted criminals are going on the lam before their final court dates due to legal loopholes.

More and more convicted criminals are going on the lam before their final court dates due to legal loopholes. [SHUTTERSTOCK]

More and more convicted criminals are going on the lam before their final court dates due to legal loopholes.

In some cases, the scofflaws commit more crimes while on the run after being sentenced in absentia.

Yet, as the law does not allow prosecutors to detain convicted persons before sentencing, the authorities struggle to track down fugitives.

In June 2022, a gang member was sentenced by the court to 18 months in prison for injuring his brother with a weapon.

However, the gang member, who wasn't detained during his trial, went into hiding as the court was expected to hand him a harsh sentence.

The gang member impersonated his brother while on the lam.

By the time the police finally caught him last October, the gangster was wanted for 22 additional felonies, including several assaults.

In January 2022, a man was sentenced to a year in absentia for extorting 45 million won ($33,900) from his girlfriend.

When the girlfriend asked to break up, he threatened to tell people about their sexual conduct.

He also went into hiding just before the court’s ruling. However, even on the run, the man defrauded and extorted several other women.

The police took him into custody after a year's search.

Number of fugitives on the loose growing every year

According to a recent Supreme Prosecutors’ Office study, 6,077 fugitives were loose on the streets last year.

This was the first time the figure surpassed the 6000 mark. This figure combines 3,812 still at large and 2,265 new fugitives.

The number has been gradually increasing from 4,593 in 2017.

Furthermore, only 60 percent of the fugitives were apprehended and made to serve their sentences.

Last year, 3,683 of 6,077 fugitives were made to serve their sentence while most hid among the general populace.

In other words, 2,250 fugitives, or 37 percent, are wandering the streets in 2024.

The authorities could not execute the sentences of 144 convicted criminals, or 2 percent of the total, because they died or the statute of limitation on their criminal punishment had expired.

The statute of limitation for a life sentence is 20 years. For a 10-year sentence, it is 15 years, while for a sentence between three and 10 years, it is 10 years. The statute of limitation for a sentence under three years is seven years.

Legal loopholes

The prosecutor’s office claims that fugitives have increased in recent years due to the rise in trials where defendants are not detained.

In January 2021, the Supreme Court’s court administration office amended the rules on detaining defendants.

Previously, courts had to detain defendants during sentencing, except in exceptional circumstances.

Now, however, defendants may be detained only if grounds exist.

Grounds to detain defendants include indisputable evidence of the committed crime, absence of a fixed residential address, a strong possibility of destroying evidence and a flight risk.

As a result, the number of fugitives that run before their final sentencing, which stayed at roughly 4,500 between 2017 and 2020, has jumped 34 percent in the last three years since 2021.

But more concerning is that because the defendants are free while they stand trial, the authorities have trouble preventing them from going into hiding.

The authorities complain that monitoring defendants 24 hours a day is impractical.

“There are no mechanisms for preventing the defendants from fleeing before sentencing while the court allows them to stand trial without being detained unless there's a flight risk,” a legal professional who requested anonymity said.

Trials in absentia present another problem.

The law permits trials in absentia unless the case against a defendant would ordinarily lead to a sentence of less than three years.

“Even if a defendant requests an absentia, there is no regulation that requires the court to determine the defendant’s whereabouts,” said a legal professional. “That is why there are many cases where the defendants take flight after hearing the court ruling outside.”

The authorities also have no legal grounds that allow them to investigate convicted criminals on the run.

Under the criminal code, a person could face up to a year in prison for fleeing or violating a summons. However, this rule only applies to those put into temporary detention.

This rule does not apply to those who take flight before they are brought into custody after sentencing.

As a result, the police cannot conduct searches and seizures. They can only rely on other investigative methods to track down fugitives, such as monitoring the person’s phone records, stakeouts and questioning acquaintances.

The possibility of returning the fugitive to serve their sentence becomes slimmer when they flee overseas.

“As the investigative authorities’ hands are tied, the criminals casually disappear,” a prosecutor said, requesting anonymity.

The National Assembly motioned a legislative revision to set a legal basis for issuing search and seizure warrants against fugitives in September 2022.

However, the revision bill has been stuck in the National Assembly for the past year and five months.

Tracking down fugitives until they're caught

Unlike Korea, the U.S. justice system comes down hard on those who take flight during indictment or sentencing.

Once labeled as a fugitive, the authorities bring in a broad range of legal resources to detain the offender.

Under the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Service (UMS) takes over the initial investigation to track down the fugitive. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) moves in in cases involving a major crime.

The United States Secret Service (USSS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and local law enforcement step in when needed.

Under federal law, it is possible to issue an arrest warrant against a fugitive.

The U.S. has other legal tools at its disposal, such as seeking an arrest warrant under the Code of Federal Regulation or conducting searches and seizures under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

U.S. authorities tap the communication devices of a fugitive's relatives and monitor credit card spending and bank accounts to track down the fugitive.

In Germany, the law stipulates the authorities' rights to search and seize fugitives who go on the run after the court announces their sentence.

France also has a legal basis for compulsory investigation in its Criminal Procedure Act, saying that the judicial police can search and seize to find the fugitive according to the prosecutors’ order.

In Japan, institutional measures for investigating fugitives were not established until last November. The country revised its Criminal Procedure Acts in November last year, introducing a measure that allows issuing a search and seizure warrant.

BY KIM JUN-YOUNG [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]