There has been a remarkable development of government policy regarding the support for the victims of domestic violence and sexual assaults. Since the passage of the acts to protect the victims of the gender violence, the government budgets and the support centers have greatly increased. As government eased the way that the center gets registered, its number has dramatically increased. Along with the sudden increase in the number, the worries over the service quality have emerged. Only about one third of the centers obtain government budget support as of 2008. Employees working for them are paid poorly, which would affect negatively the recruitment of well-qualified employees. A decent wage is the critical factor for retaining well-qualified employees in the centers.
Despite the problems that the centers are faced with, there have been no systematic studies on how to improve the situations. We reviewed government budgets, various referral service for the victims, the access to the service, and the training system for employee in the centers, using 2007 national data on domestic violence, sexual assaults, and evaluation of victim-support facilities. We also conducted Focus Group Interviews of the employees in rape crisis centers, victims shelters, and hotline 1366.
Based on the research, the following policy recommendations are suggested. For quality control, government needs to provide the principle on which the budgets are allocated to the centers and the criteria by which their performance is measured. To secure stable and consistent service for the victims, the government has to improve the wage of the center employees. Despite the large number of the centers, they tend to be disproportionately distributed across the nation. Local governments have to make efforts to improve the access for people in remote areas such as countryside and small islands. Educational and Training materials and programs are need to be developed specially for the experienced employees. Additionally, on-line or CD forms of educational materials need to be developed and distributed to help those in the regions who have a great deal of difficulties in taking time off to participate in the education programs in Seoul. The government also has to dramatically improve the bureaucratic process in inspecting and auditing the centers. The employees of the centers are overwhelmed with paperwork, which would result in reducing their efforts to help the victims.
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