Nearly 460,000 search and seizure warrants sought last year; 91 pct approved

Law enforcement authorities sought about 460,000 court warrants last year to raid, search and seize evidence, up about 15 percent from a year earlier, and some 91 percent of them were granted, Supreme Court data showed Thursday. According to the Supreme Court's 2024 judicial almanac, a total of 457,160 search and seizure warrants were sought by the prosecution, police and other agencies last year, a 15.2 percent increase from 396,807 cases in the previous year. The number has been on the rise from 289,625 cases in 2019 to 316,611 in 2020 and 347,623 in 2021. Of last year's requests, 90.8 percent, or 414,973 cases, were granted, while 37,213 cases were partially denied and 4,974 cases completely rejected. The data also showed that courts tended to give out heavier sentences in criminal cases last year, with imprisonment sentences rising to 63.7 percent from 61.3 percent in 2019 and sentences of fines falling to 24.5 percent from 26.1 percent in 2019. The proportion of courts handing out prison terms of o ver one year increased from 21.2 percent in 2019 to 25 percent last year, while prison terms between three and 10 years and over 10-year prison terms both increased slightly to 8.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. The report pointed to a social atmosphere that calls for stern punishment for crimes as to what likely led to the tougher sentencing by the Supreme Court. Source: Yonhap News Agency