South Korea's digital sex crime penalties criticized as too lenient

A recent forum on sentencing standards for gender violence in South Korea brought to light significant concerns regarding the leniency of punishments for digital sex crimes. One case highlighted involved an individual who operated a Telegram chat room, creating and distributing over 4,700 deepfake images of women. Despite facing charges for both editing/synthesizing and distributing illicit videos, the perpetrator received a three-year prison sentence in the first trial, far below the potential seven-year maximum for each offense.

Experts at the forum pointed to a concerning trend: the compliance rate with sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes between 2021 and 2023 stood at 79.9%, significantly lower than the overall average compliance rate of 91.1% for all crime categories. This suggests that judges are not consistently adhering to established guidelines when sentencing these offenses.

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The compliance rate for digital sex crime sentencing guidelines from 2021-2023 was 79.9%, significantly lower than the average compliance rate of 91.1% for all crime categories.

Further issues arise from the guidelines themselves, which are perceived as too lenient. For instance, the distribution of illicit videos carries a legal maximum sentence of seven years, yet the recommended sentencing range starts much lower, between six months and 1.5 years, and only increases to 10 months to 2.5 years with aggravating factors. This gap between the legal maximum and recommended sentences allows for considerably lighter punishments.

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The sentencing guidelines for some digital sex crimes are significantly lower than the legal maximum, and may lead to conservative sentencing even in cases with poor criminal behavior or high risk of reoffending, suggesting a need to adjust the recommended sentencing ranges.

Calls were made to tighten sentencing guidelines and ensure stricter application, particularly for cases involving severe criminal intent or high recidivism risk. Experts also argued for a more rigorous approach to sentence reduction. They noted that in digital sex crimes, a lack of prior criminal record does not necessarily indicate a first offense due to the clandestine nature of these crimes, and leniency should not be granted simply because the illicit material has not yet been widely disseminated.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family intends to use the opinions gathered at the forum to submit improvement recommendations to the Sentencing Committee. The committee is currently reviewing digital sex crime sentencing guidelines, with revisions expected by April of next year. This initiative follows a previous submission by the ministry in 2020, prompted by the widespread Nth Room digital sex crime scandal.

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Digital sex crimes often involve hidden offenses, meaning a lack of prior criminal record doesn't always signify a first offense, and multiple crimes are often punished collectively. The practice of reducing sentences based on 'no prior criminal record' or because the victim's images were not widely distributed must stop.