The Nagoya Family Court decided Wednesday to send three teenage boys to a juvenile reformatory for the murder-robbery of a male employee of a juvenile rehabilitation facility in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture.
Presiding Judge Hidenori Kan opted to send the three boys, two of them aged 15 and the other 14, to a reformatory to give them educational courses and guidance for at least five years instead of putting them on criminal trial, as requested by prosecutors.
"We considered sending them back to prosecutors, but all three of them are very immature, and we are afraid they may not fully grow as human beings if long-term criminal punishment is imposed on them," Kan said.
"What the boys need is treatment by experts, such as individual counseling, and education. Through treatment and education, we can expect them to deepen their feelings of apology and atonement and become rehabilitated as members of society."