The Cabinet approved bills Friday to revise juvenile and related laws, including elimination of a stipulation that minor offenders must be at least 14 years old to be detained at juvenile reformatories.
A family court will be able to send juvenile offenders under 14 to reformatories if necessary after the Juvenile Law is revised. Under the current system, it has only limited options for dealing with them, including placing them under observation or sending them to juvenile self-support facilities.
The revisions are aimed at fighting heinous crimes committed by young minors, government officials said.
It will be the first revision of the Juvenile Law since 2000, when the age at which offenders can be held criminally responsible was lowered from 16 to 14.
The bills will be submitted to the Diet with the aim of passing them during the ongoing regular session.
The bills give police more authority to investigate juvenile crimes and those who are likely to be involved in criminal acts.
Specifically, police will be authorized to search homes of and confiscate materials from juvenile offenders under a new system.