한국의 강력흉악범죄: 억지력, 소득불평등 및 피해자특성을 중심으로 (Violent Crime in Korea: With F ocuses on Deterrence, Income Inequality, and F emale Victimization)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국법경제학회
· 수록지 정보 : 법경제학연구 / 11권 / 3호 / 389 ~ 417페이지
· 저자명 : 김일중, 변재욱, 안희욱

초록

2000년대 들어 한국은 강력흉악범죄 급증, 소득불평등 악화, 및 여성피해자 비율 급증이라는 세 가지 문제에 봉착했다. 가령 OECD는 한국의 소득불평등 개선방안으로 여성의 고용률 증가 또는 양질의 일자리 창출을 권고하였다. 그런데 범죄피해자학 이론에 따르면 여성의 외부 노출과 소득 향상은 범죄 대상으로서의 매력도를 증가시킬 수 있다는 추론도 가능하다. 본고에서는 소득불평등 개선 및 여성피해자 증가라는 일면 상충관계에 있는 현상들이 강력흉악범죄에 미치는 영향을 법경제학적 시각으로써 실증적으로 탐구한다. 소득불평등-강력범죄 연계성을 분석한 기존 논의들을 이론적으로 간략히 재정리한 후, 이를 바탕으로 피해자특성이 강력흉악범죄에 미치는 효과까지 숙고한다. 다양한 자료를 취합하여 구축한 패널데이터로 실증분석을 수행한 결과, 전통적인 억지변수들과 소득불평등변수는 한국의 강력흉악범죄 발생을 설명하는 데 있어 유의미한 역할을 하였다. 우선 검찰의 기소가 경찰의 검거보다 더 강한 억지력을 보였다. 특히, 소득불평등은 강력흉악범죄의 증가와 밀접한 관계를 갖는다는 사실을 확인하였다. 나아가 피해자특성으로서 여성의 ‘범죄노출 정도' 확대 및 ‘경제적 지위' 향상이 강력흉악범죄를 설명하는 데 유의미한 역할을 한다는 사실이 밝혀진 만큼 여성피해자 발생 억지를 위한 형사정책의 확대가 시급해 보인다.

영어초록

Korea has faced a three-fold set of hurdles in the criminal justice policy over the 2000s. Violent crime, income inequality, and female victimization have all showed upward-sloping trends. First, the number of violent crimes in Korea increased sharply in the 2000s, and is in a yet faster trend in the later years. Second, according to OECD, Korea' s income inequality also has steadily worsened in the 2000s. Third, female victimization is truly worrisome based on domestic statistics and the reports published by international agencies. As the main purpose of the paper, we estimate the violent crime supply function of Korea by using a panel data method. To build the dataset, we have utilized various sources of databases and government agencies. In the process, we measure the marginal impact of income inequality on violent crimes, and further explore, for the first time in Korea, the relationship between female victimization and the increase in violent crimes. For this goal, we start reestablishing existing theories on the nexus between income equality and violent crimes based on our simple model designed for illustrative purposes. It is well known that the economic literature, relative to the literature in criminology or sociology, has relatively less focused on victim' s characteristics or attributions in explaining crime. However, in this paper we have endeavored to take them into full consideration. We also consider them with the aforementioned economic model to offer a coherent explanation in terms of economic incentives on the part of potential offenders. Estimation results reveal several findings which are noteworthy. The deterrence hypothesis is in force, and, in particular, prosecutory activities show stronger deterrence than arrests by police. Income inequality measure as the Gini Index makes a systematic effect on violent crimes. Representative characteristics of female victims such as the degree of exposure and their economic status are closely related to the occurrence of violent crimes. All these suggest therefore that the criminal justice policy to curb violent crimes, not to mention the efficient allocation of law enforcement resources in the conventional context, should include new instruments aimed to prevent female victimization as well as to ameliorate the adversary effect stemming from worsened income inequality. Considering the tremendous and ever-increasing amount of social costs incurred by violent crimes as have been measured by several experts, the implementation of these policy tools must be carried out immediately along with more inter-disciplinary research if necessary.

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