Sexual assault attorney, does a sex crime committed while intoxicated receive a reduction of sentence?

Hello. This is a sexual assault attorney at Daeryun Law LLC.

In relation to sexual violence crimes targeting children and adolescents, even if the offense was committed while intoxicated, a reduction of sentence is not necessarily granted.

In general, our Criminal Act allows a sentence to be mitigated where a crime is committed in a state of mental and physical weakness due to alcohol, drugs, or the like.

However, in the case of sex crimes against children and adolescents, under Article 19 of the 「Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Sexual Abuse」, the application of Article 10 of the Criminal Act (the provision on mitigation for mental and physical weakness) and the like can be excluded, so in practice there is a trend in which a reduction of sentence due to intoxication is not readily recognized.

That is, the court determines whether to apply mitigation at its discretion, and a mere state of intoxication makes it difficult for the sentence to be mitigated; rather, a severe punishment may be pronounced as a serious crime.

In particular, sexual violence crimes against minors cause great social harm and carry relatively heavy statutory penalties, and under Article 302 of the Criminal Act and the like, a person may be subject to imprisonment of up to 5 years.

For detailed matters, you may wish to confirm through a consultation with a sexual assault attorney.

As a prompt and accurate response is important above all, we recommend that you not agonize alone but instead seek the direction of response together through a consultation with a sexual assault attorney.