Community & Belonging · Indicator 1
Nighttime crime data measurement
What this indicator asks
How do the police in Seoul define, record and publish crime at night, and who can get this data?
not scored
We reviewed the crime data that the Korean National Police Agency and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office publish. This indicator describes how data is kept. It does not report crime figures or say whether the city is safe.
The prosecutors name a night, from 8pm to 4am, in a national analysis. The police name no night. They publish eight three-hour time bands, and the first band appears to hold records with no known time.
The Seoul tables carry the type of offence, the place and the police station, and no time. So nobody outside the government can count crime at night in Seoul. Korean criminal law uses “night” but does not give hours. Under the Criminal Code, breaking into a home at night to steal carries a heavier sentence. The Supreme Court reads “night” as after sunset and before sunrise.