경찰의 수사활동은 개인의 인권을 충실히 보호하면서도 실체적 진실을 추구해야 하기 때문에 일종의 딜레마가 존재한다. 본 논문은 피해자수사 부분에 있어서 이러한 딜레마를 극복하고자 하는 일종의 대안제시로서의 성격을 지닌다. 즉 경찰이 피해자를 수사함에 있어서 피해자의 인권을 적정하게 보장 해주면서도 효과적으로 실체적 진실발견에 이를 수 있는 과학적인 피해자수사기법을 탐색해 내고자 하는데 그 의의를 두고 있다.
종래 응보형 사상을 바탕으로 하는 전통적 형사법체계에서는 피해자를 단순히 하나의 '증거방법' 혹은 형사절차의 변방에 있는 '객체'로서만 인식하여 왔다. 때문에 지금까지의 경찰 수사활동에 있어서도 피해자라는 존재는 상당히 소홀히 취급되어 왔었던 것이 사실이다. 하지만 피해자의 인권과 그들의 실질적인 피해회복에 많은 관심을 기울이고 있는 오늘날의 '회복적 형사사법(restorative justice)' 체계에서는 피해자를 수사기관의 적극적인 보호를 받아야 할 '중요한 수사의 협력자'이자 형사절차상의 '권리주체'로서 인식해 줄 것을 요청하고 있다.
본 논문은 위와 같은 수사환경의 변화와 형사사법의 새로운 패러다임의 변화에 대한 인식을 기초로 피해자의 지위를 시대적 조류에 맞게 재조명 해본 다음, 경찰이 피해자와 직간접으로 연관을 맺으면서 수행하는 피해자수사 영역에서 제기될 수 있는 각종 문제점을 적시해보고 이에 대한 개선책을 제안해보고자 하였는 바, 특히 다음 몇 가지 사항에 중점을 두었다.
첫째, 경찰이 수행하는 피해자수사의 내용을 현장성 여부, 강제성 유무, 수사기법 활용유형에 따라 구분하여 살펴보았다. 현장성 여부에 관한 부분은 초동수사활동과 계속수사활동으로 구분하였고, 강제성 유무 부분에서는 임의수사와 강제수사로 구분하여 살펴보았으며 수사기법 부분에서는 유형별 수사기법 활용여부에 따라 이론을 전개하였다.
둘째, 피해자 수사환경으로서 주요 선진국 및 우리나라의 피해자대책의 현황을 살펴보았다. 이를 위하여 먼저 각 나라의 피해자대책의 연혁을 소개한 다음, 형사절차상의 일반적인 피해자대책을 살펴본 뒤, 마지막으로 각국 경찰의 피해자대책추진현황을 일별해 보았다.
셋째, 우리나라의 경찰의 피해자수사의 문제점에 관하여는, ① 수사경찰관의 의식과 태도의 문제, ② 수사경찰관의 피해자수사 행태상의 문제, ③ 제도상의 문제, ③ 법률상의 문제 등 4가지 영역으로 구분하여 문제점에 접근해보고자 하였다.
넷째, 위 4유형의 문제영역별로 경찰의 피해자수사 개선방안을 제시하여 보았는 바, 먼저 경찰관의 의식ㆍ행태의 변화가 선행되어야 함을 강조하였고 아울러 진술증거의 정확성과 허위성 판단을 위한 수사기법 개발을 위하여 심리학이론의 응용이 필요함을 역설하였다. 또한 피해자보호와 관련된 법령과 제도는 경찰의 수사환경이라고 말할 수 있는데 이의 개선을 위해서는 통합적인 피해자보호법령의 제정, 수사정보의 제공, 신변안전조치, 위기개입의 훈련실시, 피해자의 수사절차참여 제도화, 가해자-피해자 화해ㆍ조정(offender-victim mediation) 제도 마련, 유관기관과의 연계체제 구축 등이 충실히 추진되어야 함을 제안하였다.
요컨대 본 논문의 궁극적 관심은 수사절차에 있어서 경찰의 효과적인 피해자보호방법의 고찰에 있다. 증거수집을 위한 과학적 수사기법의 개발도 엄밀히 말하면 피해자의 신속한 피해회복을 돕기 위한 것이기 때문이다. 피해자보호에 충실한 수사활동은 결국 사안의 진상을 규명하는데 있어서 피해자의 적극적 협력을 이끌어 냄으로 말미암아 수사를 성공적으로 이끌어 갈 수 있게 해줄 것이며 이러한 피해자수사의 개선을 위한 노력은 종국적으로 경찰수사가 국민의 커다란 신뢰를 받을 수 있게 되는 전기를 마련해 줄 것이다.

Traditional criminal justice system which has the root in retaliatory punishment has treated a victim as a piece of evidence or the object of criminal justice system. Therefore a victim has been considered insignificant in the course of police crime investigation. The criminal justice system, what is called 'Restorative Justice System', lays great emphasis on the practical assistance for the victim's restoration. It focuseson the policing of service style to assist the crime victim's need rather than the policing of legalistic style which is related with crime control over suspects and defendants. This restorative justice system that pays attention to the practical restoration of loss and the human rights of a crime victim demands that a victim be seen as an important cooperator of investigation and the subject of rights in criminal procedure who deserves active protection. So, if police investigator want to get cooperation from victims, they should have a great concern for the service style which gives useful aids to victim.
Without the appropriate cooperation of victims, police are apt to fail to accomplish the purpose of investigation. Victims acting as complainants and witnesses serve as a major source of information about crime. If police are not able to have such information, they cannot fulfil their task properly. Finally, failure in police improving their contacts with victims directly diminishes the influence police can have on crime. Frequently, a victim as a witness offers police investigator very useful information enough to solve the crime.
To get the criminal information from the victim successfully, there is necessity to meet the requirements of two factors. First, police officer have to provide various services to the crime victims immediately when criminal acts happen and they are in need of support. So, it is very important for police to do emergency response and crisis intervention services in proper time. There are services such as "securing the physical safety of victims", "making feel as safe and secure as possible", "offering some form of psychological first aid", "informing the voluntary or professional support service systems for crime victims" and "providing the information of the victim's rights in follow-up investigation procedure". These services provided properly by police will promote the relationship between police and victim, and, as a necessary consequence, a police investigator can obtain useful information from a victim more easily because of the victim's open-minded and cooperative attitude. Therefore, police officers should be trained to offer suitable services to a victim with proper attitude.
Second, police need to develop the interview technique and communication skill to gain the criminal information from a victim more effectively. Poor skill of investigative interviewing makes an investigator incompetent to obtain useful knowledge from the victim's memory.
These days, however, there is somewhat distrust to police investigators among Korean people because of the investigator's behavioral patterns neglecting the needs of victims and old-fashioned investigative techniques. The police officers' behavioral patterns to investigate a victim is not sufficient to satisfy the victim during the preliminary investigation. If these behavioral patterns of investigators are not to be changed, police shall be faced with difficulty in solving the crime because of insufficient information.
Police can play an important role with respect to the needs of victims. They are often the first agents to have contact with the victim following their victimization. In that first contact they can provide victims with emotional support as well as with much of the information which is not only important to the psychological recovery of the victim, but it is a prerequisite for accessto many other kinds of services.
However, police are apt to think that crime is routine, and so they often fail to recognize the impact of crime on its victims. Although victims often expect more warmth and assurance from police, they frequently assume an aloof or business-like attitude to protect victims and to function effectively in crisis. Unsympathetic police officer's reactions like this heighten the suffering of the victim. This is commonly referred to as 'secondary victimization'.
Police investigation in nature may fall into a dilemma pursuing the fact-finding and human rights protection at the same time. This study tries to propose an alternative to overcome such a dilemma in the course of police investigation on a victim. In other words this study has the meaning in figuring out scientific techniques to achieve the effective fact-finding and appropriate human protection concurrently for the victims who are subject to police investigation.
This study, starting from the recognition of the environmental change of crime investigation and the new paradigm of criminal justice, reviews the position of a crime victim, describes a variety of issues that may be aroused in police investigation of a crime victim performed with direct and indirect relationship with one and, propose the reform measures focusing on a few points as follows;
First, police investigation on a crime victim is categorized as three sectors. such as ① preliminary investigation and follow-up investigation : whether crime scene exists or not, ② non-compulsory investigation and compulsory investigation : whether police investigator use compulsory measures or not during the investigation, and ③ investigative interviewing, hypnotic investigation, using the polygraph and so on : which technique isused to investigate victim.
Secondly, police investigation on a crime victim is greatly influenced by the law and criminal justice system, so there is necessity to research those investigative environment related with victim policies. To do this, the general measures of criminal procedure, and the current state of victim protection policies of the police organizations in the countries, should be described and reviewed.
Thirdly, the problems with victim investigation of Korean police are examined, which covers problems with ① the mind-set and attitude of investigators, ② behavior of investigators, ③ the system, and ④ the law.
Fourth, improvement measures are presented in accordance with above-mentioned 4 categories of problems. Application of psychological theories is to put stress on to improve the mentality and behavior of police investigators, and to develop investigation techniques in deciding the accuracy and reliability of narrative evidence. To improve the law and system, the enactment of an integrated act for victim protection is proposed. In addition, the dissemination of investigative information, physical protection, crisis intervention, the victim participation in investigation, offender-victim mediation, the establishment of cooperative agreement between applicable organizations, and the issue of investigation environment are meditated.
Protection of basic human rights and respect to individual personality , in a modern democratic society, are considered much more important than any other time. The trend should not be an exception to police investigation of a crime victim. Therefore a crime victim should not be seen as just an object of criminal procedure to produce a piece of material for crime investigation but as a subject of criminal procedure who deserves support of a government, a non-government organizations and a community in recovering from the outcome of victimization.
This study aims ultimately at mediating the effective victim protection methods in the course of police investigation. The development of scientific investigation techniques for evidence collection can be said to have the goal in assisting the victim's restoration. Investigation which fulfills the duty of victim protection eventually may result in a success as it will lead the victim to fully cooperate. Such an effort to improve victim protection will ultimately lay the foundation of police investigation gaining substantial credit from nation.