National / Crime & Legal Aug 2, 2018
Financial damage from special fraud cases down in Japan but more juveniles implicated: NPA
Those under 14 cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions under the law.
National / Crime & Legal Sep 25, 2017
Parental help crucial in protecting children after school, MPD crime panel says
A Metropolitan Police Department panel determines that parents must step up to keep their children away from crime as most incidents tend to occur after school.
Editorials Sep 2, 2017
The government should think very carefully before lowering the age that minors receive protection from prosecution for minor crimes.
National / Crime & Legal Aug 27, 2015
Number of juvenile criminal suspects in Japan hits record low
The number of juveniles investigated over crimes in the first half of the year dropped below 20,000 for the first time on record, due mainly to a decline in petty crime, police data showed Thursday. The number of juveniles involved in serious offenses also declined ...
National / Media | MEDIA MIX Jul 18, 2015
Despite what the media says about juvenile crime, the kids are alright
by Philip Brasor
In an essay he wrote for Asahi Shimbun's Internet magazine Webronza in June, professor Mikio Kawai, a specialist in "serious crime," revealed the results of a survey he conducted last March among 1,456 "older" people. He asked the respondents if they thought juvenile crime ...
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jul 4, 2015
Will hot-selling book bring Kobe killer in from the cold?
by Mark Schreiber
'June 28, 1997. I ceased being me. It was the day I was expelled forever from the world of sunshine. Up to then, I had nonchalantly spent my days unaltruistically, each passing day framed by the next as in a film, until the day ...
National / Social Issues May 30, 2015
Life inside a juvenile correction center
by Masami Ito
Young offenders are encouraged to acknowledge the crimes they have committed before learning how to survive in the outside world after their release.
Editorials May 28, 2015
At a time when juvenile crime is decreasing, efforts to punish youthful offenders more harshly are misplaced.
National / Social Issues May 23, 2015
Shifting the scales of juvenile justice
by Masami Ito
In light of 13-year-old Ryota Uemura's recent murder in Kawasaki, the country is once again split over whether or not to revise the law governing crimes committed by minors.
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jan 31, 2015
The changing motives behind juvenile crime in Japan
by Mark Schreiber
In a thought-provoking article in the February issue of Bungei Shunju, veteran journalist Kunio Yanagida ponders changes in the patterns of crimes committed by juveniles that have taken place since the end of World War II. In the postwar years, poverty was the key factor ...
Commentary / World Sep 5, 2011
by Kevin Rafferty
Hitherto unknown and self-styled "loach" Yoshihiko Noda must learn to swim in an ocean of problems as Japan's new prime minister of the year. He has more than a plateful of domestic issues, but he should also realize, as his predecessors forgot, that Japan ...