Issue 39. Juveniles aged 10 years or older but younger than 14 years who committed an action in violation of the criminal legislation (juvenile criminal offenders) 144. The Criminal Act includes a clause on criminal minors, by providing that "the act of a person under 14 years of age shall not be punished". Meanwhile, under the Juvenile Act which is aimed at helping juveniles grow in a sound way by carrying out necessary measures, such as protective dispositions, for the environmental adjustment and behavioral correction of juveniles with anti-social behaviors, and taking special measures regarding criminal dispositions, a court of law may order a protective disposition even for a criminal minor aged 10 years or older but younger than 14, if the child has committed an action which violates the criminal legislation. There are 10 types of protective dispositions, including entrusting the child to a juvenile protection facility under the Child Welfare Act and transferring the child to a juvenile reformatory. In particular, once a child is transferred to a juvenile reformatory under a protective disposition, the child will be detained in the reformatory for 6 months ~ 2 years. That is, although the law provides that those under 14 years of age are criminal minors, it is still possible to legally detain children as young as 10 years. (The Government revised the law provision on the age of juvenile criminal offenders to change it from the previous 12~14 years to 10~14 years in 2008. When the revision draft was released for public notice in 2007, the NHRCK expressed its opposition to the idea of lowering the age of juvenile criminal offenders, on the ground of the CRC, but the MOJ did not accept the NHRCK's opinion.) 145. The Government, in the draft of the 1st Framework Plan to Prevent Juvenile Delinquencies, attempted to lower the maximum age of criminal minors under the Criminal Act from the existing 14 years to 13 years. In response, the NHRCK expressed its opinion, to the National Assembly Speaker and the Minister of Justice, that a lower maximum age of criminal minors would be incompatible to the perspectives of juveniles' social rehabilitation and restoration and would not be desirable as it would not likely work effectively to prevent juveniles' criminal offenses, and the NHRCK also delivered its opinion, to the Minister of Justice, that it is desirable to make comprehensive improvements in the juvenile justice policy and to guarantee the victims of juvenile crimes the right to participate in the procedures and the right to be informed and draw up a variety of measures to support them, for the purpose of protecting them and facilitating their return to society. 146. The Government should make a legislative review to see if the age of juvenile criminal offenders is too low, and should work out a way to ensure that custodial arrangements which deprive juveniles of their liberty, including the detention in a juvenile reformatory, is used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible time. 36