The Sentencing Commission is an independent committee affiliated with the Supreme Court and has been established in accordance to the provisions of the Court Organization Act amendment on April 27th, 2007.
It aims at realization of fair and objective sentencing that people can trust by reflecting people's wholesome common sense. Since its establishment, the Sentencing Commission has been continuously performing the tasks of establishing and amending the sentencing guidelines and of studying, deliberating the related sentencing policies up to now.

The 1st phase Sentencing Commission (2007. 4. 27. ~ 2009. 4. 26.)

The 1st phase Sentencing Commission launched on April 27th, 2007(Chairperson : Kim, Suk-Soo) has resolved the sentencing guidelines for crimes of homicide, crimes of bribery, crimes of sexual assault, crimes of robbery, crimes of embezzlement and breach of trust, crimes of perjury, and crimes of false accusation on April 24th, 2009, and made it enforced from July 1st, 2009. The 1st Sentencing Commission has established the principles of stipulating separate guidelines matching the characteristics of each offense group per individual offense group, and preferentially established the sentencing guidelines for 7 important offense groups of social interest.

The 2nd phase Sentencing Commission(2009. 4. 27. ~ 2011. 4. 26.)

The 2nd phase Sentencing Commission launched on April 27th, 2009 (Chairperson : Lee, Gyu-Hong) has resolved the sentencing guidelines for crimes of abduction and inducement, crimes of fraud, crimes of larceny, crimes related to official documents, crimes related to private documents, crimes of obstruction of the performance of official duties, crimes of foods and health, and crimes of narcotics on March 21st, 2011, and made it enforced from July 1st, 2011. The 2nd Sentencing Commission has greatly expanded the scope of application for the sentencing guidelines by establishing the sentencing guidelines for 8 offense groups with a close relationship with peoples' life and a high frequency of occurrence as well. In addition, the 2nd Sentencing Commission has also partly revised the sentencing guidelines for crimes of homicide, crimes of sexual assault, and crimes of robbery.

The 3rd Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2011 ~ April 26, 2013)

The 3rd Sentencing Commission(launched on April 27, 2011) resolved sentencing guidelines on crimes related to securities and finance, intellectual property, violence, and traffic offenses on June 18, 2012 and the guidelines went into effect on July 1, 2012. The Commission resolved sentencing guidelines on crimes related to election on August 20, 2012 and the guidelines went into effect on September 1, 2012. The commission resolved sentencing guidelines on crimes related to taxation, extortion, and crimes of arson on February 4, 2013 and they went into effect on July 1, 2013. Also, the 3rd Commission amended sentencing guidelines on crimes of sexual assault on January 30, 2012 and drastically enhanced punishment standard of crimes related to sexual assault on the disabled and child. Furthermore, based on the amendment to Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, the Commission resolved to amend sentencing guidelines on crimes of homicide and sexual assault on April 22, 2013 and the amended guidelines on crimes of homicide and sexual assault went into effect on May 15, 2013 and June 19, 2013, respectively.

The 4th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2013 ~ April 26, 2015)

The 4th Sentencing Commission(launched on April 27, 2013) held the 50th meeting on June 24, 2013 to select group of offenses to be established and amended. The Commission began the work to establish sentencing guidelines on crimes related to violation of Attorney-at-Law Act, crimes of accepting or offering bribes by breach of trust, crimes of commercial sexual acts, crimes of illegal arrest, confinement, abandonment, and abuse, crimes of obstructing another from exercising one’s right, crimes dealing with stolen property, crimes of destruction and damage of property, and crimes of speculative game product. Furthermore, the Commission began the work to amend sentencing guidelines on crimes of abduction and inducement, crimes of human trafficking, crimes of narcotics, and crimes of food and health.
Accordingly, in the first half of the term of the 4th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2013 ~ April 26, 2014), sentencing guidelines for crimes related to violation of Attorney-at-Law Act, crimes of accepting or offering bribes by breach of trust, crimes of commercial sexual acts, crimes of illegal arrest, confinement, abandonment, and abuse, crimes of abduction and inducement, and crimes of human trafficking were resolved to be amended on March 31, 2014. Therefore, the amended sentencing guidelines for crimes related to violation of Attorney-at-Law Act, crimes of accepting or offering bribes by breach of trust, crimes of commercial sexual acts became effective on July 1, 2014 while the amended sentencing guidelines for crimes of illegal arrest, confinement, abandonment, and abuse, crimes of abduction and inducement, and crimes of human trafficking became effective on October 1, 2014.
In addition, in the second half of the term of the 4th Sentencing Commission(April 27, 2014~April 26, 2015), the sentencing guidelines for crimes dealing with stolen property, crimes of obstructing another from exercising one’s right, crimes of Interference with a Business, crimes of destruction and damage of property, and crimes of speculative game product were resolved on February 2, 2015 and the amended guidelines went into effect on July 1, 2015. The sentencing guidelines for crimes of food and health and crimes of narcotics were resolved on April 13, 2015 and the amended guidelines went into effect on May 15, 2015.

The 5th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2015 ~ April 26, 2017)

The 5th Sentencing Commission(launched on April 27, 2015) held the 66th meeting on July 6, 2015 to establish and amend sentencing guidelines for groups of offenses. The Commission selected the following offenses for the fifth group of established offenses : crimes related to the Labor Standards, crimes related to the Petroleum Business Act, crimes related to death and injury by negligence, crimes related to currency and valuable securities, crimes related to assisting escape and harboring criminals, and crimes related to the Credit Business Act. As for the group of offenses that are to be amended, the Commission selected crimes of larceny, crimes dealing with stolen property, crimes related to traffic offenses, crimes of obstructing the performance of official duties, and crimes of perjury.
Accordingly, in the first half of the term of the 5th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2015 ~ April 26, 2016), sentencing guidelines for crimes related to the Labor Standards, crimes related to the Petroleum Business Act, and crimes related to crimes related to death and injury by negligence and amended guideline for crimes related to traffic offenses were resolved on March 28, 2016. Sentencing guidelines for crimes related to the Labor Standards, the Petroleum Business Act, and death and injury by negligence went into effect on July 1, 2016 and the amended guideline for crimes related to traffic offenses was enforced from May 15, 2016.
In addition, the amended sentencing guidelines for larceny and crimes dealing with stolen property were resolved on July 11, 2016 and enforced from September 15, 2016.
In the latter half of the 5th Commission’s term (April 27, 2016 ~ April 26, 2017), amended sentencing guideline for crimes of obstructing the performance of official duties was resolved on December 5, 2016 and went into effect on January 15, 2017. Also, crimes of perjury and destruction of evidence and crimes related to intellectual property, which were additionally selected for amendment on July 11, 2016, were resolved on April 10, 2017 and are in enforcement from May 15, 2017. Sentencing guidelines for crimes related to assisting escape and harboring criminals, crimes related to currency, valuable securities and the Illegal Check Control Act, and crimes related to the Credit and Business Act and the Debt Collection Act were resolved on April 10, 2017 and went into effect on July 1, 2017.

The 6th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2017 ~ April 26, 2019)

The 6th Sentencing Commission(launched on April 27, 2017) held the 80th meeting on June 12, 2017 to establish and amend sentencing guidelines for groups of offenses. The Commission selected the following offenses for the sixth group of established offenses : crimes of defamation, crimes related to Violations of the Act on Regulations of Conducting Fund-Raising Business without Permission, and crimes related to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. As for the group of offenses that are to be amended, the Commission selected crimes of violence, Extortion, illegal arrest, confinement, abandonment and abuse; crimes of obstructing another from exercising one’s rights; crimes of destruction and damage, etc. of property; and crimes of abduction, inducement and human trafficking.
Accordingly, in the first half of the term of the 6th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2017 ~ April 26, 2018), sentencing guideline for crimes of violence was amended and resolved on June 11, 2018. Amended sentencing guidelines for crimes of intimidation, illegal arrest, confinement, abandonment and abuse, crimes of obstructing another from exercising one’s rights, crimes of destruction and damage, etc. of property, and crimes of abduction, inducement and human trafficking were resolved on July 23, 2018, all of which went into effect on August 15, 2018.
In the latter half of the 6th Commission’s term (April 27, 2018 ~ April 26, 2019), sentencing guidelines for crimes of defamation, crimes related to Violations of the Act on Regulations of Conducting Fund-Raising Business without Permission, and crimes related to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act were resolved on March 25, 2019 and went into effect on July 1, 2019.

The 7th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2019 ~ April 26, 2021)

The 7th Sentencing Commission(launched on April 27, 2019) held the 95th meeting on June 10, 2019 to establish and amend sentencing guidelines for groups of offenses. The Commission selected the following offenses for the seventh group of established offenses : crimes of digital sexual assault, crimes related to the sexual crimes under the Military Criminal Act (pursuant to sentencing guideline amendments for the crimes of sexual assault), crimes related to trespassing upon residence, and environmental crimes. As for the group of offenses that are to be amended, the Commission selected crimes of election, crimes related to traffic offenses, crimes of narcotics and crimes of robbery. During the 103rd meeting on July 13, 2020, the Commission additionally selected crimes related to death and injury by negligence and crimes related to occupational safety and health for amendments.
Accordingly, the 7th Sentencing Commission resolved amended guideline for election crimes on January 6, 2020, which went into effect from February 1, 2020. Amended guideline for crimes related to traffic offenses resolved on April 20, 2020, and newly established guideline for crimes related to sexual crimes under the Military Criminal Act resolved on May 18, 2020 were enforced from July 1, 2020. On September 14, 2020, the Commission resolved amended guidelines for crimes of narcotics and crimes of robbery and effectuated them on October 15, 2020. Sentencing guideline for crimes related to digital sexual assault was established and resolved on December 7, 2020 and went into effect on January 1, 2021. The sentencing guidelines for crimes related to trespassing on residence and environmental crimes and the amended guidelines for crimes related to death and injury by negligence and crimes related to occupational safety and health were resolved on March 29, 2021 and went into effect on July 1, 2021.

The 8th Sentencing Commission (April 27, 2021 ~ April 26, 2023)

The 8th Sentencing Commission(launched on April 27, 2021) decided to establish sentencing guidelines on crimes related to information communication and personal information, crimes of violation of a Customs Law, and fines. The Commission also decided to amend the sentencing guidelines on crimes of child abuse, traffic offenses, and sexual assault, and to rearrange sentencing elements related to settlement throughout the overall sentencing guidelines.
In accordance with this, the amended sentencing guidelines following the arrangement of sentencing elements on settlement were resolved on December 6, 2021 and went into effect on March 1, 2022. The amended sentencing guidelines for crimes of child abuse were resolved on March 28, 2022 and went into effect on June 1, 2022. The amended sentencing guidelines for sexual assault were resolved on July 4, 2022 and went into effect on October 1, 2022.
The 8th Sentencing Commission resolved the principle in establishing sentencing guidelines on fines on March 28, 2022. In accordance with the principle, the Commission resolved sentencing guidelines on fines for traffic offenses on April 24, 2023, and the sentencing guidelines will go into effect on July 1, 2023. In addition, the Commission resolved sentencing guidelines on crimes related to information communication and personal information, and crimes of violation of a Customs Law, and also resolved amended sentencing guidelines on traffic offenses on April 24, 2023 respectively. The sentencing guidelines will go into effect on July 1, 2023.