Criminal Law of Love and Consolidated Criminal Jurisprudence : Taking Criminal Law Policy on Drug Crimes as an Example

As This article proposes specific criminal justice policies for drug-related offenses by placing the criminal law of love as the theoretical basis for solving the crisis of our society in which the 'war on drugs' has been declared, and envisioning its practical consequences as an integrated criminal justice model. First, the core of the criminal law of love, which has been advocated as an alternative to adversarial criminal law theory, takes a step further from the ‘God-man metaphor’ and focuses on its purpose and meaning. The meaning of human dignity is understood as the dignity of a person as a person, not because they are made in the same image as God, but as a person who is made in the same image as God and loved enough to make autonomous decisions based on reason. Imagining a dignified human being as a being in its own right can emphasize the guiding function of criminal law beyond its regulatory function. Based on this reinterpreted criminal jurisprudence of love, this article emphasizes the need to build an integrated criminal justice system with ‘retributive, restorative, and therapeutic’ justice as its pillars, and proposes a strategy for criminal justice policy on drug offenses. First, it argues that drug offenses should be regulated by the Criminal Act, which fulfills the principle of protecting the interests of the law and maintaining the basic order as a fundamental norm of our living world. It explains that the relationship between the Criminal Act and the Narcotics Control Act is not that of a general law and a special law, so that both laws are applied in cases where the application of both laws overlap. Second, it suggests that the current inoperative “Crimes Concerning Opium” statute should be amended to “Crimes Concerning Narcotics” to reflect reality so that it can be applied. Third, it proposes that a protectionist provision be added to the Criminal Act to allow foreigners to be subject to Korean criminal law for drug supply offenses. On the other hand, the existence of special laws is necessary because the Criminal Act, whose main function is to suppress crime, cannot contain all treatment and prevention policies. Individual laws, including the Narcotics Control Act, are suitable for carrying out criminal law policies on drug crime prevention and treatment. To do this, this article envisions a desirable operation plan for the government's recently expanded “justice, treatment, and rehabilitation” model. Using the therapeutic justice strategy as a benchmark, the article emphasizes the role of criminal justice in helping drug-consuming offenders to overcome their addiction by requiring them to actively participate in treatment as early as possible, from the time investigative agencies become aware of a drug crime and before prosecution. The article also develops policy recommendations to emphasize community solidarity and to use professional community groups to operate a mandatory treatment system.