Eight out of every 100 convicted sex attackers in Korea last year had a previous conviction of a sex crime, data showed Tuesday.
According to the Justice Ministry data released by Rep. Kim Jin-tae of the ruling Saenuri Party, reoffending by sex offenders has been on a steady and alarming rise over the past five years.
The proportion of repeat offenders among all sex crime convicts rose from 3.3 percent to 8 percent in 2015, registering a 2.4-fold rise.
Last year, 2,775 out of a total of 34,688 sexual predators were repeat offenders.
stock image(123rf)
Their number stood at 728 in 2011, 918 in 2012, 1,186 in 2013 and 2,150 in 2014.
During the same period, the total number of sex offenders also steadily grew from 21,920 to 34,688.
“There should be measures to sternly punish sex offenders to prevent second crimes as public anxiety deepens over the rise of second sex crimes,” Kim said.
(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)