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| A probation officer on Mar. 2 visits a former sex offender (face blurred) wearing an electronic anklet who lives in a one-room residence in Seoul's Jongno District. Korea Times |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Probation officers in charge of monitoring former sex offenders who wear electronic anklets are complaining of burnout under a system where only a handful of staff are overseeing a large number of ex-convicts.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the load each officer is required to deal with has been consistently increasing since the monitoring system was introduced in 2008. That year, there were 48 officers responsible for 151 tagged former convicts nationwide or 3.1 offenders per officer. But the number of former sex offenders being monitored via electronic anklets surpassed 1,000 in 2012, 2,000 in 2014 and 4,000 in 2020, while the pool of law enforcement officers expanded to 237 during the same period. By January 2021, the number of former sex offenders each officer is required to monitor reached 21.7, up seven times since the system was introduced.
The workload, according to the South Korean daily Hankook Ilbo, is excessive compared to developed countries like Sweden and Australia, where each law enforcement officer monitors between five and eight former sex offenders.
Last year, the justice ministry requested the National Assembly to authorize the addition of 302 more probation officers. But lawmakers approved the addition of only 101 citing budget constraints.
A lack of National Assembly support and the justice ministry's inability to empower the force also resulted in an inadequate number of special probation officers who are dedicated to monitoring just one person with exceptional notoriety. Each of those officers is assigned to one former sex offender considered to represent an exceptionally high risk of repeat offense, including ones who assaulted teenagers three or more times in the past.
But while there are 192 former sex offenders fitting that profile nationwide, only 24 of them are under close monitoring.
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| Cho Doo-soon, who served a 12-year prison term after kidnapping an eight years old girl and raping her in a church bathroom in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, in 2008, leaves a probation center in the city on Dec. 12, 2020, after being released from prison earlier that day. Since his release, Cho has been under surveillance by a special probation officer who exclusively monitored him. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok |
The workload faced by probation officers is expected to grow, as prisoners who are discharged on parole will also be required to wear electronic anklets subject to monitoring. They are also required to monitor activity in chatting apps and other online channels where minors are commonly targeted. Paying regular visits to each former sex offender under watch is another responsibility shouldered by the probation officers.
From June this year, probation officers will be given the same authority as police to initiate investigations if they find something suspicious. But despite the additional power, the officers complain their workload has only increased.
"I understand the regulations' purpose and background, but the reality is that we are seeing more work that needs to be done without any changes to the workforce," one probation officer said. Another officer said he believes the number of former convicts each officer should monitor regularly should be 10 or less to ensure effective management.
The likelihood of former sex criminals committing a repeat offense under the monitoring system is 2.1 percent on average based on 2015 to 2019 data. That is higher than those who committed murder (0.1 percent) or robbery (0.2 percent). That is also why sex offenders need to be constantly monitored ― and the working environment for those who watch them must be improved.
Since 2016, 17 former convicts a year on average damaged electronic-monitoring devices attempting to escape the government's surveillance network.
