When a family member is arrested

When you hear about the arrest, your first instinct is to rush to the police station. Often you go and come back without even seeing them, so take care of the following first, in order.

• Find out which police station and department, what the offense is and when the arrest took place. Within 24 hours of an arrest, the police must notify the lawyer or a family member or other person named by the suspect of these details in writing (Investigation Rules (수사준칙) Article 33).
• Write down the time of arrest. The 48-hour deadline for requesting a detention warrant (구속영장) runs from then.
• Apply right away for a lawyer to visit. A spouse, lineal relatives and siblings can appoint a lawyer independently of the person arrested (Criminal Procedure Act (형사소송법) Article 30(2)).
• Gather documents showing the person's home, job and family ties, such as a resident registration abstract, family relationship certificate, certificate of employment or business registration certificate.
• If they take any medication, bring the name of the medicine and the prescription and tell the police station.

If family members contact the victim or others involved to explain things or rush into a settlement, investigators may see it as an attempt to sway them or destroy evidence. Settle only after deciding the timing and method with the lawyer.

Do not tidy up or delete anything on the arrested person's phone or computer either. A risk of destroying evidence is one of the grounds for detention.

Questioning starts right after the arrest and may continue several times if needed. If unavoidable to decide whether to request a detention warrant, questioning can even take place at night (Investigation Rules Article 21(2)). Statements made in a state of panic stay in the record as they are and become material for the warrant decision.

If the police do not apply for a warrant, or the prosecutor who receives the application does not request it from the court, the person is released. If a warrant is not requested within 48 hours of the arrest, the person must also be released immediately (Criminal Procedure Act Articles 200-2(5) and 200-4).

The police must also tell the arrested person, and the person they name, that they can ask the court to review whether the arrest is lawful (Article 214-2(2)). If the arrest itself seems flawed, consider this procedure.

Once a warrant is requested, a judge calls the suspect in and questions them directly. An arrested person is questioned by the day after the warrant request unless there are special circumstances (Criminal Procedure Act Article 201-2(1)). The lawyer can attend and give views, and if there is no lawyer, the court appoints a court-appointed lawyer.

At this pre-detention hearing (영장실질심사), the judge looks at whether there are reasonable grounds to suspect a crime, whether the person has a fixed residence, and whether there is a risk they will destroy evidence or flee (Articles 70 and 201). It is not a hearing on guilt or innocence, so it is important to show in documents the person's ties to their life here and that they have cooperated with the investigation. The result usually comes out late that night or early the next morning.

• Home: resident registration abstract, lease agreement
• Job: certificate of employment, business registration certificate, salary records
• Family: family relationship certificate, details of dependants
• Compensation: settlement agreement or proof of repayment (if any)

Once detained, a person can be held by the police for 10 days and by the prosecutor for 10 days, and with a judge's permission this can be extended once by up to 10 days (Criminal Procedure Act Articles 202, 203 and 205).

If the detention seems unjustified in the meantime, you can request a review of the legality of detention (구속적부심사). Family members, people living with the detainee and their employer can also request it; the court holds a hearing within 48 hours of receiving the request and may order release on condition of paying a security deposit (Article 214-2). After indictment, you can apply for bail (보석) (Articles 94 and 95).

When you contact us, we visit the arrested person to hear what happened first, and decide with them what to say in questioning and what to hold back. We also attend questioning while they are under arrest.

If a warrant is requested, we attend the pre-detention hearing to present our views and submit the documents the family gathered together with a written opinion. After detention, we continue to attend questioning and consider a review of detention and bail.

Arrests happen at night and on weekends too. If a lawyer's visit is urgent, let us know first through the chat on this page.