While economic recovery may be the focal issue for the June 25 election, Ruriko Take, head of the Association for Victims of Juvenile Crimes citizens group, believes juvenile issues should be given more attention as they concern the people who will lead society in the future.
The spate of heinous crimes committed by teenagers in recent years has triggered calls for the Juvenile Law to be revised to make family court proceedings open, but a bill to revise the controversial law was scrapped after the Diet ran out of time to deliberate it.
Politicians should carefully study the Juvenile Law to understand the plight of juvenile crime victims and their families, who are not allowed to know the identity of the offender or the outcome of the court trial because the assailant is a minor, said Take, 45, whose 16-year-old son Takakazu was killed by another 16-year-old in 1996.