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The Child Sexual Assaults by Kin -The Experience of YoungNam District Sunflower Center for Prevention of Child Sexual Assaults- (친족에 의한 아동 성폭력 실태 - 영남권역 해바라기 아동센터의 경험 -)

Seo, Sun-Ki;Lee, Sang-Han
- Journal of forensic and investigative science
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- v.2 no.2
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- pp.21-29
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- 2007
News from the media on sexual assaults to children committed by natural fathers doesn't attract social attention any more. The number of crimes related to Child Sexual Assault(CSA) is increasing every year in spite of the "Special Act on Prevention of Sexual Assault in Korea". The YoungNam District Sunflower Center for prevention of Child Sexual Assaults(SC-CSA) was established in Daegu, June 2005. The YoungNam District SC-CSA provides forensic evaluation of physical evidence, medical and psychological treatment for the victims less than 13 years of sexual assaults simultaneously. This study carried out 36 cases of CSA by kin reported to YoungNam District SC-CSA, among 180 cases in total until December 2006 since its opening. Most of the victims were girls (32 cases). 28 cases (78%) were indecent assaults (78%) and 8 cases (22%) were rapes. The assailants were overwhelmingly males (35 cases). The assailants of 21 cases (58.3%) were identified as the victims' natural fathers. The incident locations were victim's residence (31 cases, 86.1%) and the victims had been sexually assaulted regularly for many years (25 cases, 69.4%). Considering the above research, we can conclude that CSA committed by kin has specific characteristics. CSA is not a one-time incident, but consistently occurring crime. However, in 22 cases (61.1%), the victim's guardian didn't want to report about it or punish the assailants. As the assailants were natural fathers or relatives of the victims, the other family members probably thought it might be shameful to reveal their wrong doings and would lead to defamation of their family's reputation. The SC-CSA provides the counseling and medical treatment to the victims with the consent of the parents. Due to the guardians' misjudgment, the incident is sometimes not reported to the police. By not reporting the incident to the police, the assailant freely commits other crimes, which multiplies victims. The legal Act of supporting the management of the SC-CSA is still not regulated, so the stability of the SC-CSA is not guaranteed, yet. Even though it is obligatory to report incidents to the police, some cases are still not reported. Currently, there are three SC-CSA centers : in Seoul, in Daegu, and in Gwangju. More centers need to be established to diminish CSA cases in Korea.
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