[Family at Risk ③] Enhanced penalties for murdering parents are constitutional, but… what about parity with murdering children?

Hanbyol Law LLC lawyers said that the Constitutional Court’s ruling upholding the constitutionality of enhanced penalties for parricide has once again brought to the fore questions of fairness in the criminal justice system between cases involving the killing of parents and those involving the killing of children. They noted that average prison sentences differ statistically—15.7 years for parricide and 7.7 years for killing one’s descendants—and said discussions about creating a separate offense for killing one’s descendants have raised both hopes of improving fairness and concerns about excessive punishment.

Hanbyol Law LLC lawyers proposed that, as a legislative solution, any new offense for killing one’s descendants should have strictly defined elements, with exceptions and sentencing guidelines that account for individual circumstances such as self-defense, diminished mental capacity, or a history of abuse. They also called for careful drafting of legislation and consultation between the judiciary and legislature, taking into account the complexity of case handling resulting from the separation of investigation and prosecution, as well as the need to build up case law.