자살가담행위의 처벌 = Punishment for Aiding and Abetting a Suicide

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Suicides and attempted suicides do not constitute a crime under the existing law simply because there are no punitive regulations thereof, and the reason for the lack of punitive regulations is due to the absence of proper targets of punishment or any conceivable societal benefit expected of such punishment. From the perspectives of criminal law, a suicidal act amounts to abandonment of the very basis of what the law purports to protect, and thus goes beyond the tolerable range of an individual's exercise of freedom. Yet it is not punished because punishment is essentially impossible.
Aiding and abetting another individual's suicide, on the other hand, falls under the independent criminal components stipulated by criminal law, and is punishable by Article 252 Section 2 (the crime of suicidal aiding and abetting) and Article 254 of the Criminal Law. There are certain limitations on the applicability of general theories of complicity with the principal offender due to the peculiarity of necessary complicity. Aside from such limitations, the criminal components stipulated under the crime of suicidal participation clause define a form of complicity in its narrow sense, resulting in further peculiarities and rendering the application of general theories even more difficult.
First, participation in another individual's suicide is not different from aiding and abetting as narrowly defined in Article 31 Section 1 and Article 32 Section 1 of the Criminal Law. But such an act committed by omission or negligence is a practical impossibility. Second, indirect aid or consecutive abetment is judged to be a criminal act of suicidal abetting and the aider is punishable as the principal offender.
There can be an accomplice in suicidal abetting. In view of the purport and characteristics of the relevant law which singles out suicidal abetting as an exceptional crime, it would be fair to treat accomplices individually according to the degree and causality of their involvement in the act.
It is impossible to establish an indirect principal offense on the basis of the offender's lack of ability, although taking advantage of the suicide's lack of ability may constitute an indirect principal offense depending on the circumstances.
Finally, the indirect principal offender who takes advantage of the suicide is held liable not for the crime of suicidal participation but for the crime of homicide or parricide. In the event that the suicide lacks the ability to make decisions about his/her own life, however, the abetter (or wirepuller) is considered the direct (not indirect) principal offender.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 들어가는 글
• Ⅱ. 자살관여죄
• Ⅲ. 자살관여죄와 임의적 공범
• Ⅳ. 자살관여죄와 정범이론
• Ⅴ. 맺은 글
• Abstract