OSAKA (Kyodo) A 34-year-old Kawasaki woman is collecting signatures to call for creation of a new crime category for child abuse resulting in death or injury.
After being frustrated that many parents whose abuse led to the death of their children have evaded murder charges due to investigators' recognition that they lacked murderous intent, Hiroko Narita, a company employee, said she hopes her campaign will help raise public awareness to push for codifying child abuse as a felony.
She and her supporters, mainly mothers of young children, have collected signatures in Kanagawa and Osaka prefectures and on the Internet from more than 60,000 people, and aim to raise the figure to more than 200,000.