Number of mentally troubled among criminals tripled over 10 years


Police arrested a mentally disabled man who stabbed a woman to death in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, on Monday in the latest bout of random crimes by those with psychiatric problems and grievances against society.

Around 12:10 p.m, the 34-year-old man, identified by his surname Yoon, stabbed the 21-year-old university student with a knife five times in the chest and abdomen at a marketplace underpass.

After the crime, Yoon asked a passerby to report him for murder. The police arrived in five minutes and arrested Yoon, who was standing still at the crime scene.

The victim, who had no connection with the murderer, was rushed to the hospital but died.

Police reported that Yoon was evaluated to have a second level mental disability, and has no known job or friends. Yoon had been staying around Waegwan after running away from home last month.

The police reported they are having difficulties in finding his motivation for murder.

Meanwhile, Seoul Central District Court arrested 18-year-old Kim for breaking into an elementary school last Friday and injuring six students with a toy gun and shovel.

Police reported that Kim had recently quit school in August due to depression. Kim has received treatment since last March, and has records of seizures and attempting suicide.

School authorities said Kim did not appear to have violent tendencies or to have been bullied before the crime.

The incidents were the latest in a series of crimes against innocent people involving the mentally unstable and those discontent with society.

In August, a 30-year-old man attacked his former colleagues and passers-by with a knife on a street in Seoul, leaving four wounded.

Earlier in the same month, a man attacked passengers in a subway station with a box cutter in Euijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, leaving seven victims wounded.

Police said the number of those with mental disorders who are committing violent crimes such as murder, rape and arson tripled in the decade up to 2011.

The number increased to 2,120 in 2011 from 739 in 2002, according to the National Police Agency’s data submitted to Rep. Shin Hak-yong of the Democratic United Party.

Mentally troubled criminals numbered 14,951 during the period. In 2002, the average number of the mentally challenged per 100,000 criminals was 38, but last year it increased to 117.

Among unstable criminals last year, 46 were arrested for murder or attempted murder, 49 for sexual assault, 47 for arson, and 21 for robbery.

They also show a higher rate of committing a second offense. In 2010, the rate of repeat crimes was 32.1 percent among those with mental health problems, compared to 24.3 percent among ordinary criminals.

By Samuel Songhoon Lee and Sang Youn-joo 
(songhoon@heraldcorp.com) (sangyj@ heraldcorp.com)