성매매 아동･청소년 보호를 위한 법제도 검토와 개선방안 - 청소년성보호법을 중심으로

Abstract

The law on protection of teenage sexuality (heretofore referred to as the protection law) clearly defined children, too, to be eligible for protection. In particular, the use of the expression, “the act of purchasing the sexuality of children or teenagers” in lieu of the expression, “acts of prostitution of children or teenagers” indicates that children and teenagers are to be protected and cannot be an agent of prostitution. The need to protect and uphold the welfare of children and teenagers, in addition to protecting them from prostitution which by nature exploits children was the basis of the law. The Act provided that the welfare or protection of children and young people is required, and thus, the Act provides for the provision of the special regulations for prostitution and prostitution in the criminal or judicial process, while the protection and counseling system is applied to the target children. However, a number of problems have been raised in the process of implementing the Youth Protection Act, while the legislation was not properly implemented due to the lack of regulations or the protection of target children and adolescents. the law seeks to secure criminal and judicial status for such protection. Children and teenagers in this context need to be seen as victims in the criminal or judicial process and must be provided with appropriate counseling. As such, this paper reviewed the law on children and teenagers and presented measures for reinforcing their protection through appointment of a lawyer, evaluation of any compensation that is typical of prostitution related crimes and an assessment of whether there was malicious intent or repeated violations. The paper also suggests the establishment of a new committee to determine whether the children or teenagers in question should be sent to juvenile correction facilities, the establishment of a dedicated protection facility to prevent prostitution, and operation of a specialized program by increasing the number of counselors within these facilities.