KANG SEONAH2011-79187Professor Rapunzel O. TomacderEnglish 10 - THU210 October 2011Readdressing Responsiveness to Rape in KoreaRape is a serious criminal act that has to be punished accordingly so as to protect the rights and values of the people. Under the Philippine constitution, rape is committed under Art. 266-A of the Revised Penal Code “[by] a man who shall have carnal knowledge of a woman through force, threat or intimidation; when the offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; by means of fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority; or when the offended party is under twelve years of age or is demented, even though none of the circumstances mentioned above be present.” It can also be committed “[by] any person who, under any of the circumstances mentioned( in paragraph 1 here of,) shall commit an act of sexual assault by inserting his penis into another person’s mouth or anal orifice, or any instrument or object, into the genital or anal orifice of anape by the time the young victim finally gains the courage to talk about what had happened, the prescribed time according to “Prosecution Prescription” could have already expired. Young victims who have been raped but weren’t aware that they have been raped receive great pain when they become adults finally acknowledge the crime and find out the case had been closed due to “Prosecution Prescription”. Because of this enactment, law system could not do any action about it since the time period for such crime has ended. Because young victims are afraid of retaliation of the offenders and the views of the people on them if they were to report, rape cases on children is increasing. This absurd situation gives them wrong impression that they are guilty of a crime where in fact, they are the ones who are offended. Because of such, there has been an increasing number of cases where the victims had mental disorders and even commit suicide. Additionally, criminals might commit the same crime once people who are pushing towards the eradication of “Prosecution Prescription” is to reduce cases on rape especially those which are committed against children. In other words, we have to first correct our prejudices against sex/gender; establish correct sex education and apply it; and finally, be more concerned toward our surroundings. Therefore, eradication of “Prosecution Prescription” should be pushed through so as to lessen the occurrences of such inhumane crimes, for the justice that the victims have to receive and to correctly address the order of the society as a whole. Rape has to be reviewed by the society because rape cases should not be limited to a crime committed toward women but must be seen as a crime that violates one’s gender rights. The law system has to be revised as soon as possible. The government, as well as the legislative body has to take part in eradicating “Prosecution Prescription” so that the punishment toward sex offenders are treated sternly and thus makithe second ruling, his sentence was reduced to lifetime imprisonment reasoning that the society also has its fault on his crime, (considering the bitter childhood the criminal went through), such as death sentence should not be imposed in a light manner, and that this sentence would be too heavy for the offender.Based on the cases mentioned above, it is certain that inhumane crimes are present in the society and the law system has been established to fight off such injustices. But ironically, such law system has not been able to correctly address the injustices in the society and therefore is already a great evidence that the current law system has to be revised.Death penalty must be considered as one of the punishments for severe cases of rape. Being lenient on severe rape cases might encourage more cases of rape. It is simply unjust to let a criminal live after killing and offending many victims. Death penalty can be the most suitable punishment for criminals whose victims are still ives a rise to the number of people with misconceptions about sex. This in turn causes increase in rape cases and other sexual harassments. I think that the paternal and gender discriminating culture/structure of the Korean society on people’s unconsciousness is the main reason for increase of such cases. Also, people’s close mindedness on sex and rape in school might make rape victims feel shy to report the crime, which is an evidence of lack of sex education. We have to teach about rape and we have to protect each person’s rights and values. On top of which, policies to protect the victims are not enacted well, which makes the victims shy and secretive about the actions that were committed towards them and since the society view such victims negatively. Ironically enough, the victims are the ones hiding instead of the offenders, and this gives them additional hurt—emotionally, physically and socially. At the same time, giving more focus on sex education and dissemination of informati 9
