본 연구는 초고령사회 진입과 함께 증가하는 노인범죄 문제를 다루며, 처벌 중심의 형사정책에 대한 한계를 비판하고 ‘비판범죄학’에 기반하여 노인 출소자들의 범죄 원인과 책임 인식을 분석하고자 한다. 또한, 이들 의 생애 전반에 걸친 사회적 환경이 삶에 미친 영향을 프레이리의 ‘세상 읽기’ 관점에 바탕을 두고 탐구하였다. 연구 방법으로 생애사 연구를 채 택하여 연구참여자의 개인적 경험을 심층적으로 분석하고, 만델바움의 분석틀을 활용해 삶의 영역, 전환, 적응이라는 세 가지 범주로 결과를 도 출하였다. 삶의 영역은 ‘빈곤과 역기능적 가정’, ‘이루지 못한 학업’, ‘성 공적인 돈벌이’로 도출되었으며, 전환점은 ‘생계형 범죄로 진입’, ‘소외와 배제’, ‘범죄에서 탈출’ 과정으로 나타났다. 적응 차원에서는 ‘순응 또는 적응의 생애전략’과 ‘공동체적 관계 맺기’, ‘인권 기반 사회복지’가 사회 적응에 중요하게 작용함을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구는 주류 범죄학의 개인화된 관점을 넘어 ‘비판범죄학’의 구조적 관점과 프레이리의 ‘세상읽 기’라는 실천적 관점을 융합하여, 보다 ‘인간화’된 사회복지적 접근을 제안 하며, 출소자의 재사회화를 위한 공동체적 지원체계 및 교정복지와 사회복 지가 통합된 형사정책의 필요성을 강조한다.

When examining existing theories of crime, we are led to an agreement that crime is eventually private as well as public evil. However this conclusion may neglect a possibility that whoever lives his life as a good citizen under the constraint of law in a nation-state may someday find himself to be a criminal. Crime is not just a problem caused by a special kind of man. Even if we can tell criminal activities as delinquent, it is not unreasonable that they are not abnormal. Based on the assumption that a few special persons commit crimes, so far most literatures on crime tend to concentrate on either some properties of criminals or the relation between environmental and human factors. Circumscribed by its narrow presupposition, criminology cannot but provide the crippled power of explanation over the ocean of criminal cases in reality. If we admit crime is a normal phenomenon of everyday social routine, it may be more profitable for the future studies of correction to focus on the question of how to defend our society from criminal delinquencies in practice than to make efforts in making conflictive arguments in theory. Also how to rehabilitate criminal victims who have been excluded from the process of criminal justice should be stressed as a main theme in light of criminal policies. In consideration of these problematics, this study tries to show the future direction of correction policies. Chapter 2 explains the existing theories and groups them into two families according to their analytic dimensions. Classifying the theories of innate or inherent criminality as of 'personal level causes,' I call the theories of socio-environmental factors as of 'social level causes.' In chapter 3, I examine both the existing theories on crime and some problems in the current corrective system with a critical viewpoint. In chapter 4, I want to present a few alternatives for the future direction of correction. These alternatives include the cooperation and coordination between criminal justice agencies, reparation for criminal victims, and the introduction of private jails or penitentiaries. In this article, I argue we should concentrate our attention rather on correcting offenders individually by changing their relations with structural factors than on searching for the more evident causes of crime. In terms of improvement I also propose some measures such as the introduction of governmental indemnification for the whole society as well as individuals directly victimized by crimes and the prisoners' reimbursement system for their own penitentiary costs. We are so deeply accustomed to the rational and mechanical type of assumption that we cannot be readily accept the critical review developed in this study. However we explore the causes of crime to improve our society in practice. If we accept this ultimate purpose of criminological studies, it cannot be denied the importance of practical efforts to enhance the efficiency of corrective policies as well as to realize common good for all the people pertinent to the social phenomena of crime including offenders as the objects of correction, victims, law enforcing agencies and even tax payers who want social security.