In spite of the debate over the existing legal framework for crimes committed by juveniles in the wake of a 12-year-old boy admitting to murdering 4-year-old Shun Tanemoto in Nagasaki, experts have mixed views over whether the age at which juveniles can be held criminally responsible should be lowered from the current 14.

Prompted by a series of violent crimes committed by youngsters, including the 1997 killing and decapitation of an 11-year-old Kobe boy by a 14-year-old junior high school student, the Juvenile Law was revised in April 2001 to lower the age at which crimes by young people can be sent to prosecutors from 16 to 14.

That change brought the law in line with the Penal Code, which says juveniles must be at least 14 to be held criminally responsible.