‘Learned crime’ and broken moral boundaries that threaten everyday safety > News

The first incident involved a medical student in Seoul breaking in by secretly learning the door lock password of a woman next door. It was revealed that this student did not simply commit the crime accidentally, but planned the crime carefully, including by observing the victim's movements as she entered the entrance password. The fact that the police found not only the victim's underwear but also about 20 pieces of clothing believed to belong to other women in a garbage bag at his home strongly suggests that this crime was not a one-time incident. Social questions are growing as to why a young man who dreamed of becoming a future medical professional invaded someone else's private space and fell into a swamp of crime, and the court is currently taking steps to decide whether to detain him.

The second thing to note is the habitual unlicensed driving behavior of men in their 60s. Even though his license had already been suspended for drunk driving, he had the audacity to drive without a license again even on his way to be questioned by the police. Despite having four previous drunk driving convictions and dozens of drinking-related violations, the fact that he continued to commit crimes while on probation is interpreted as a blatant challenge to the rule of law. The situation in which the police had to go into hiding near the police station to arrest the person in question clearly shows how habitually and unreflectively the suspect was running on the road.

The third incident is the forcible harassment and illegal filming of a man in his 40s that occurred in Incheon and the intrusion into a military base in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. In the case of the Incheon incident, filming and molesting another person's body without consent is a serious sexual crime that tramples on an individual's moral rights. Additionally, the incident in which a military vehicle was attacked in Icheon is an extreme example of a person using physical force when his demands were not met while drunk. In both cases, alcohol or distorted sexual desires became the catalyst for the crime, which clearly shows how much members of our society have lost minimal respect for others and awareness of public order.

When these incidents are summarized, the commonly found keywords are ‘recidivism’ and ‘lack of awareness.’ The medical student's crime was the result of a twisted voyeurism that sought to steal the daily lives of others, while the drunk driver's case was caused by arrogance that made light of legal punishment. In particular, although the types of crimes are different, they all never considered that their actions caused irreparable mental and physical harm to others. This warns us of the danger that no matter how solidly a social system is designed, if each member's moral self-purification ability is paralyzed, crime can encroach on our ordinary daily lives at any time.