<Anchor>
Ahead of the new year, we are going to focus on the issues related to the intellectual disability that need more attention in our society over two days. The crime of extorting money by cleverly deceiving people with intellectual disabilities is increasing.
However, since it is difficult to report this or prove the damage on their own, in most cases the damage is taken up as it is.
<Reporter Hwan-wook So>
Mr. Jeong, who is a second-grade intellectually disabled person, was led by an acquaintance to find a mobile phone dealership in 2017, believing that he only had to do what he told him to
do. 'Are you an idiot? Can't you do this too?' While I was doing it, I said, 'Try it, it's easy' and 'For now, you just have to be good at acting... '.] The
acquaintance immediately sold the cell phone and stole the money and SIM.
[Mr. Jung/Victim: 'You can hand it over to the uncles and get your money, and that's it', and talk to the uncle for a moment without me knowing.]
I felt something was wrong, but I didn't know the situation exactly, so I couldn't even tell the people around me about the damage.
My mother, who later found out about the rising communication costs, came forward, but it was a series of difficulties.
[Victim's mother: They (cell phone stores) sold them one way or another. So that's why he told me to look for my cell phone. But where do you go to find it?]
I also went to the police station, but they didn't get any help.
[Victim's mother: I went to the police station and talked to them, but there was no reaction from the police station either. It was very difficult for me to figure out how to solve it on my own. I just really chased here and there, and I really just went to the courthouse again.] In the
end, it took me two years to meet a lawyer who was connected by the local government and win a civil lawsuit and get my money back.
The court concluded that the contract itself was invalid because Jung's intellectual ability was at the level of 5 or 6 years old.
It is rare in crimes against people with intellectual disabilities to nullify the contract and even receive debt repayment like Mr. Jung.
[Bang Dae-wook / Attorney: It is very difficult to prove the fact that you have deceived (a victim of intellectual disability), and it is not easy to obtain such evidence, especially for a victim with a developmental disability.]
(Video coverage: Yang Hyun-cheol, video editing: Lee So-young, VJ: Kim Jong-gap)
<Reporter Ha Jeong-yeon> We
have selected representative types of cases of abuse of persons with disabilities over the past three years.
First of all, it was a crime by a neighbor couple against a family with intellectual disabilities, and they seized nearly 700 million won of property by seducing them, saying, "I will buy a building," or "I have to leave my bankbook and cell phone in the court to prevent my brother from being arrested."
There was also a case where an acquaintance who usually took care of people with intellectual disabilities deceived them by saying, "What's the use of insurance money coming out when you die?" so that you can cancel the insurance that can be compensated for the disease and use his bankbook to receive 21 million won.
A total of 702 cases of abuse of persons with disabilities last year were found, and economic exploitation was the most common type of abuse with 25.4%.
The problem is that even if people with intellectual disabilities are aware of the damage, it is difficult to get out of the pit.
Because communication is difficult, many people get frustrated from the reporting stage.
Experts say that it is urgent to create a response manual first at police boxes, district bureaus, and district offices, where victims of intellectual disabilities visit first.
[Kim Seong-yeon / Secretary General of the Solidarity for the Prevention of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities: There are far more people who cannot meet the counseling agency. Creating a system that can quickly respond to problems in the nearest district or community center... I think the speed at which the system is built is very slow compared to the size of the damage.]
Some point out that it should be recognized as an abusive act that exploits the vulnerability of a disability rather than a simple fraud.
Since most crimes of economic exploitation with intellectual disabilities are treated as small-value fraud cases, 60% of cases result in only probation or fines.
For this reason, there are voices that systemic improvements such as strengthening the sentencing standards should also be made together.
(Video coverage: Yang Hyun-cheol, video editing: Lee Hong-myeong, CG: Seo Dong-min)