A three-strike system against dating abuse will be enforced starting from Monday, according to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

The system is being implemented in order to strengthen measures against date crimes amid an increasing number of date abuse cases.

The three-strike system applies to people who commit date abuse crimes at least three times to the same victim, who will then go to court even though the victim does not wish to punish the offender. 

If the victim reports the dating violence for the first time, the offender can be indicted if the victim has evidence that they were abused at least three times by the same person but didn‘t report it.

Prosecutors said that date crimes are not just a crime or threat, but a crime that could develop into an injury or death.

There have been 10,303 reported cases of date violence in 2017, marking a sharp increase from 6,675 in 2014. Only 3 percent of the arrested offenders for date violence were sentenced to jail in the first quarter of 2017.

By Chyung Eun-ju (ejchyung@heraldcorp.com)