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Prioritizing Prevention and Recovery Over Punishment: Busan Metropolitan City Expands Program to Prevent Repeat Offenses and Victimization Involving Persons with Developmental Disabilities

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it is expanding the number of beneficiaries for the “Program to Prevent Repeat Offenses and Victimization Involving Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PSRP, Personalized Support for Recidivism Prevention),” which aims to prevent reoffending and revictimization among persons with developmental disabilities who have experienced involvement in crime as either perpetrators or victims. The number of supported individuals will be doubled compared to last year.

This program is a customized support initiative for persons with developmental disabilities that Busan Metropolitan City has been uniquely implementing among local governments nationwide since 2023. This year, the city will expand the number of beneficiaries to approximately 40, doubling last year’s level.

The program is a multi-agency collaborative initiative in which prosecutors’ offices, police agencies, bar associations, centers for supporting persons with developmental disabilities, and welfare centers work in close coordination. It is characterized by the integration of criminal justice and social welfare, establishing a system to prevent repeat offenses by linking customized education with case management. Among offenders with disabilities, persons with intellectual disabilities account for more than half (52.5 percent), and among victims as well, persons with intellectual disabilities make up a high proportion (71.3 percent).

The purpose of this program is to support persons with developmental disabilities who have become perpetrators or victims of crime due to characteristics associated with their disabilities, and to establish post-incident support systems to prevent repeat offenses and revictimization.

The program provides services for persons with developmental disabilities involved in crime and their families, as well as rights advocacy officers in disability welfare departments. Key components include one-on-one customized education and support based on analysis of behavioral motivations of persons with developmental disabilities involved in crime, education and training of specialized professionals to support such individuals, and education and support for persons with developmental disabilities granted conditional suspension of indictment with educational requirements upon referral from the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office.

The expansion of the number of beneficiaries reflects both the preventive effects against repeat offenses confirmed through past program operations and the increase in on-site demand.

In practice, among beneficiaries who received support through the PSRP program, visible changes have been observed. For example, individuals with developmental disabilities who had repeatedly undergone criminal procedures due to recurring problematic behaviors did not experience similar incidents again after receiving education tailored to their level of understanding and behavioral regulation training.

One guardian of a person with a developmental disability stated, “Punishment alone did not change behavior, but after receiving education that helped explain why certain actions should not be taken, daily behavior became noticeably more stable.”

In another case, a youth with a developmental disability faced the risk of criminal disposition due to a minor incident, but through linked support combining customized education and counseling, the individual has been able to maintain a stable life at school and at home.

This year, the city plans to strengthen individualized support content and duration, provide continuous management of risk factors, and enhance the expertise of frontline practitioners. Through these efforts, the city expects to systematically continue support that was previously prone to disruption after criminal incidents, proactively block the possibility of repeat offenses and revictimization, and ease the burden on families of persons with developmental disabilities.

Jeong Tae-gi, Director General of the Social Welfare Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “The Program to Prevent Repeat Offenses and Victimization Involving Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PSRP) is a policy that approaches persons with developmental disabilities not merely as perpetrators or targets of crime, but from the perspective of understanding and prevention,” adding, “With this expansion of beneficiaries as a turning point, we will operate the program in a more substantive and effective manner so that it can provide practical assistance to a greater number of individuals.”