The Health and Welfare Ministry will ask child counselors and psychiatric experts in five cities to organize teams to deal with juvenile crimes, in a trial project starting in April, ministry officials said Monday.
The teams, likely to be organized in areas where serious juvenile crimes have recently occurred, will consist of public employees on education boards and at health centers, and child counselors, who are expected to monitor delinquent children.
The local governments of Hokkaido, Saga, Aichi and Okayama prefectures have already told the ministry they will take part in the project.