Author(s)

Daehoon Han

Department of Psychology and Sociology, Texas A & M University, Kingsville, TX, USA.

Previous literature suggested that crimes committed by the U.S. military forces in Korea (USFK) against innocent Koreans became one of the most serious social issues in Korean society, thereby they became the social pest rather than the guardian angel for many Koreans because of the ceaseless pattern of their horrendous acts against innocent Koreans. While much previous research paid attention to the general characteristics of crime by the USFK in Korea, relatively less attention was given to the reason why the USFK became the nuisance to many ordinary Koreans. In order to better understand this social problem caused by the USFK and their criminal acts, thus, this study focused on how Korean judicial authorities exercised their power to deter the USFK from committing any possible crimes against Koreans during their time serving in Korea. Based on analyzing the set of secondary data sources, the punishment imposed on crimes committed by the USFK was so lenient that it was not effective to curb their criminal acts, and it was closely related with the lack of certainty of punishing the USFK. This study also found out that the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) made the Korean judicial authorities incapable of controlling many criminal wrongdoings by the USFK because of the several unfair clauses that infringed Korean judicial sovereignty and paralyzed the function of its judicial power.

Deterrence, Military Crime, Judicial Exercise

Han, D. (2016) From Guardian Angels to Pests to Korean: The United States Forces and Their Criminal Acts in Korean Society. Advances in Applied Sociology, 6, 159-172. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2016.64014.