A total 212 children under 14 were taken into police custody over serious crimes in 2003, up 47.2 percent from the previous year.

It is the first time since 1987 that the figure has exceeded 200, according to a survey released by the National Police Agency on Thursday. Serious crimes include murder and robbery.

Under the Penal Code, children younger than 14 are not held criminally responsible for their actions.

A total 2,212 juveniles aged 14 and older were involved in serious crimes last year, up 11.4 percent from a year earlier, the survey said.

It said a record 7,376 children under 18 were victims of sex crimes in 2003. And 2,204 juveniles were victims of other serious crimes, up 3.1 percent for the eighth consecutive year of increase, it said.

Forty-two children under 18 were killed in child-abuse cases, up from 39 last year.

Police uncovered 157 child-abuse cases in 2003, down 8.7 percent, and the overall number of child-abuse victims slipped 7.3 percent to 166.

"We cannot predict how much worse such crimes could become," the NPA survey said. "A task for the nation is to create effective measures to counter such juvenile crimes and protect juvenile victims."

It said 144,404 juveniles were involved in crimes last year, up 1.9 percent from the previous year. Juveniles are defined in Japan as people under 20.

A total 93 juveniles were arrested for murder, up 16.25 percent, and 1,771 were arrested over robbery, up 11.66 percent, the survey said.

It said 21,539 children under 14 were taken into custody over crimes. Under the Penal Code, they are not arrested but taken into police custody and sent to reformatories.

Among them, 166 were taken into custody for arson, 29 for robbery, 14 for rape, two for murder and one for attempted murder.

The two involved in murder cases were a 12-year-old junior high school student who admitted killing a 4-year-old boy in Nagasaki in June, and a 13-year-old boy in Okinawa who allegedly helped beat a junior high school boy to death later the same month.