• Korean Journal of Forensic Psychology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.211-239
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• 2020

This study examined characteristics and judges' judgments regarding sexual violence cases against individuals with intellectual disabilities by analyzing total 716 cases of court decision. Of 716 cases, 6.0% sentenced not guilty, 53.5% imprisonment, 36.7% suspended sentence. More than half of the victims had experienced sexual assault more than one time with the tendency of repeating being higher when the accused were relatives or acquaintances to the victims. In half of the total cases, the victims were not able to specify the time of incidents. Only in 20% of the cases, there was actual compulsion but in the remaining cases, there was no clear coercion used during the crimes. There are three issues regarding court's decision of sexual assault case against individuals with intellectually disabilities; (1) credibility of victims' statement, (2) inability of resist during the crimes, and (3) whether the accused were aware of the victims's disabilities. In the judgment of credibility of statement, consistency of statement was the criterion that was used most frequently, being followed by specificity of statement, motivation for false accusation, cognitive capacity of victim, and reports of statement validity analysis in the order. The most frequently used criterion of inability to resist was the victim's statement and attitude, followed by the statement and attitude of the accused, the victim's knowledge and understanding of sexuality in the order. Regarding to the awareness of disabilities on the part of the accused, the statement and attitude of the accused was most frequently used, the victims' communicative abilities, duration of relationship, and daily life competence in the order. There were no differences in the rulings and issues according to levels of disabilities and gender. When victims were under 13 credibility of statement became more argues but the awareness of disabilities less frequently than the cases of victims who were 13 or older.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.103-131
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• 2022

2021, the Supreme Court recognized the foundation of the quasi-indecent act by force by the concept of 'alcohol blackout' although there were multiple situations that it was hard to judge insanity of the victims was evident in the cases with drunken victims. This means the consideration of insanity state due to temporary false memory rather than the total loss of mental capacity from the existing concept of insanity. However, the interpretation of insanity in the criminal law has to be strict and its application could be difficult. In particular, the comparison precedent which is very similar to the subject one was determined not to be the same with the state of the insanity or inability to resist during the sexual relation though the victim had the symptoms of alcohol blackout, denying the quasi-indecent act by force. This argument is determined to be logical remarkably, and insanity and quasi-indecent act by force should be discussed considering the medical review on the alcohol blackout of the victims sufficiently when determining the individual precedents. In addition, the most important point in the sexual crimes is the consent, and there may be possibility of negligence in case that uncertain consent is determined as the consent to continue the following act. Also, in case of uncertain consent or suspicious, universal determination not to follow the act should be able to realized. Therefore, strong evidence is required for criminality, determining that the victim is the state not to be able to do the normal judgment and the minimum willful negligence is existed that the accused uses this. In the subject ruling, the act of the accused has to be clearly punished, however, it is determined to be unreasonable for the punishment with the quasi-indecent act by force under the interpretation of the current regulations.

• Korean Journal of Forensic Psychology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2021

This study analyzed the use of expert reports in the investigations and trials of cases of sexual violence against people with intellectual disabilities. A total of 670 alleged sexual assault cases against victims with intellectual disabilities were analyzed. Results showed that 97.5% of the cases included at least one expert report. In most cases(91%), the expert reports of statement validity assessment were included. Additionally, doctor's note (41.1%) from obstetricians and Psychiatrists, intermediary reports(36%), and expert witnesses(psychologists') reports (9.5%) were included. In 80 cases (44.4%) of the 180 cases in which a victim' statement credibility was in question during the trial, judges cited the expert's reports of statement validity assessment as the basis for the judgment on the reliability of the victims' accusation. The frequency of citing the report was higher when the victim was under the age of 13, or when the defendant was found guilty. Regrading the report content, the evaluations of criteria-based content analysis(CBCA) was most frequently cited, while the victim's psychological status, cognitive limitation, as well as possibile contamination of victim's account, were also mentioned in the ruling statements. Results showed agreement between experts' statement validity assessments and judges' determinations in 79 cases out of the 80 cases Finally, this study discussed ways to utilize expert options.