Part 1 Present State of Youths in Japan
Chapter 5 Juvenile Delinquency and Other Behavioral Problems
Section 1 Juvenile Penal Code Offenders
(Overview)
Table 9 shows the trends of the number of juvenile delinquencies cleared by the police in the past 10 years.
Table 9 Trends in Number of Juveniles Cleared and Given Guidance (1993-2002)
| Note: | 1. Juvenile penal code offenders are juveniles aged 14 to 19 who were cleared by the police for the offences defined in the following laws: Penal Code (1907, Law No. 45), Law Concerning the Prevention and Punishment of Burglary, Robbery, Larceny, etc. (1930, Law No. 9), Law Concerning the Punishment of Physical Violence and Others (1926, Law No. 60), Law Relating to Duels (1889, Law No. 34), Explosive Control Law (1884, Cabinet Order No. 32), Law Concerning the Punishment of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (1970, Law No. 68), Law Punishing the Use of Molotov Cocktails (1972, Law No. 17), Law Concerning the Punishment of Acts Causing Aviational Danger (1974, Law No. 87), Law Concerning the Punishment of Coercion and Other Related Acts Committed by Those Having Taken Hostages (1978, Law No. 48), Special Measures Law Concerning Prevention of Mixing Toxic Substances into Distributed Foods (1987, Law No. 103), Law Concerning Prevention of Physical Injury by the Use of Sarin, etc. (1997, Law No. 78), Law Concerning Punishment of Organized Crime, Control of Crime Proceeds and Other Matters (1999, Law No. 136), Law Punishing a Person in Public Office Who Gains Profits by the Good Offices (2000, Law No. 130), excluding (gross) professional negligence resulting in death or bodily injury in traffic accidents and the offense concerning dangerous driving resulting in death or bodily injury. 2. Special law offenders are juveniles aged 14 to 19 who were cleared by the police for offences other than those mentioned in note 1 (excluding (gross) professional negligence resulting in death or bodily injury in traffic accidents and the offence concerning dangerous driving resulting in death or bodily injury, as well as offenses defined in the Road Traffic Law (1960, Law No. 105) and the Law on Securing Vehicle Parking Spaces (1962, Law No. 145) and other traffic-related laws ). 3. Juvenile offenders under 14 are juveniles under 14 who have committed acts violating penal laws. 4. Status offenders are juveniles under 20 who are considered to be likely to commit an offense or act violating penal laws in the future in light of their personalities or past behavior. |
| Source: | National Police Agency |
The number of juveniles who committed penal code offences in 2002 was 141,775 (up 3,121 (2.3%) over the previous year). The ratio to the youth population (the number of juveniles cleared per 1,000 persons of the same age group) increased to 16.7% (up 0.7%). The percentage of juveniles to all those cleared for penal code offences was 40.8%, down 1.8% from the previous year.
Figure 11 shows the trends in the number of juveniles cleared for penal code offences and their ratio to the population since 1949 when the current Juvenile Law was enacted.
Figure 11 Number of Juveniles Cleared for Penal Code Offenses and Ratio to Youth Population
| Note: | 1. Number of juveniles cleared are those aged 14 to 19 who were cleared for penal code offenses other than professional negligence in traffic accidents (Figures up to 1965 exclude offences related to stolen property and breaking and entering) 2. Ratio to Youth Population (per Population) refers to the number of juveniles cleared for penal code offenses per 1,000 persons of youths aged 14 to 19. |
| Source: | National Police Agency |
(Type of Offense)
Among the major categories of offenses, larceny had the highest share, followed by misappropriation of lost property. (Figure 12)
Figure 12 Juveniles Cleared by Type of Penal Code Offenses (2002)
| Source: | National Police Agency |
Among penal code offences, initial delinquencies (shoplifting, bicycle or motorbike theft, misappropriation of lost property) seem to have been conducted from simple motives and without careful thought. Since these initial delinquencies could lead to serious ones such as violent crimes and drug abuse, they cannot be neglected. The number of juveniles cleared for such initial delinquencies among those who committed penal code offences in 2002 was 102,134, 72.0% of all juvenile penal code offenders (up 1.4%).
The share of juveniles in the total number of offenders (including adult offenders) cleared for offenses committed on the street (referring to the following eight types of offenses for the purpose of this section: snatching, on-the-street robbery, theft from vehicles, motorcycle theft, vehicle parts theft, car theft, bicycle theft and theft from vending machines) has been around 70% since 1997. In 2002, it still stood at a high level with 69.4%.
(By Age)
16-year-olds make up the highest share among all juvenile penal code offenders, followed by 15- and 14-year-olds. The lower age group from 14 to 16 accounted for 64.6% of the juveniles cleared for penal code offences. (Figure 13)
Figure 13 Juveniles Cleared for Penal Code Offences by Age (2002)
| Source: | National Police Agency |
(By Academic Level)
Most of the juveniles cleared for penal code offenses were high school students, at 60,947 (43.0%), followed by junior high school students at 38,012 (26.8%). (Figure 14)
Figure 14 Juveniles Cleared for Penal Code Offences by Academic Background (2002)
| Source: | National Police Agency |
(By Gender)
There were 107,148 male juvenile penal code offenders and 34,627 female juvenile offenders, up 1,537 (1.5%) and 1,584 (4.8%) over the previous year, respectively. The share of females has increased to 24.4%, up 0.6 % from the previous year.
Section2 Violation of the Road Traffic Law
(Professional (Gross) Negligence Resulting in Death or Bodily Injury in Traffic Accidents)
The number of juveniles cleared for professional (gross) negligence resulting in death or bodily injury in traffic accidents in 2002 was 40,137, down 81 (0.20%) from the previous year.
(Violation of the Road Traffic Law)
The number of juveniles cleared for driving-related violations, such as unlicensed driving and driving over the maximum speed limit was 570,624, down 40,216 (6.6%) from the previous year.
Section 3 Problematic Behavior
(Drug Abuse)
In 2002, 745 juveniles were cleared for offenses involving stimulant drugs, and 2,751 for abusing thinners, both down from the previous year. On the other hand, 190 juveniles were cleared for offenses involving cannabis, up 14 (8.0%) from the previous year. Among drug-related offenses committed by juveniles, abusing thinners still accounted for the majority.
(Heinous and Violent Delinquent)
In 2002, 1,986 juveniles were cleared for heinous offenses, down 141 (6.6%) from the previous year. By type, the number of juveniles cleared for robbery was the largest with 1,586, though it decreased by 84 (5.0%) from the previous year. The numbers of juveniles cleared for homicide and for rape both decreased by 19 (19.2%) and by 25 (9.8%) from the previous year respectively.
The number of juvenile penal code offenders cleared by the police for violent crimes in 2002 was 15,954, down 2,462 (13.4%) from the previous year. By type of offense, those cleared for bodily injury (9,140) had the largest share. (Figure 15)
Figure 15 Number of Juveniles Cleared for Heinous and Violent Offenses (1993-2002)
| Note: | Indices in parentheses are for 1993 figures (100). |
| Source: | National Police Agency |
(Delinquent Groups such as Bosozoku)
In 2002, 3,382 juveniles as members of bosozoku (motorcycle gangs that cause disturbances and acts of violence, etc.) were cleared for penal code offenses, down 558 (14.2%) from the previous year. By type of offense, larceny and bodily injury had large shares. Among the cases cleared for robbery committed only by juveniles, those involving accomplices and those committed by groups have been increasing, accounting for 71.2% and 43.8% in 2002 respectively.
(Bullying)
In 2001, bullying was reported in 11.8% of elementary schools, 40.1% of junior high schools, 25.3% of high schools, and 5.3% of schools for deaf, blind or disabled children. The number of incidents per public school (elementary, junior high, high schools and schools for the deaf, blind and handicapped) was 0.6. (Table 10)
Table 10 Number of Bullying Cases (public school) (2001)
| Note: | Occurrence rate = Number of schools that reported bullying cases/Total number of public schools x 100 |
| Source: | Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
By grade, the number of bullying has been increasing among higher graders. It reached a peak among the first graders of junior highs, and then declined with age.
The percentage of bullying occurred in 2001 and solved within the same year was about 87% in elementary schools, 87% in junior high schools, 92% in high schools and 91% in schools for deaf, blind or disabled children.
In 2002, the police dealt with 94 cases that originated from bullying, and cleared or gave guidance to 225 juveniles (juvenile delinquents and juvenile offenders under 14), 16 less cases (down 14.5%) and 63 less juveniles (down 21.9%) from the previous year.
(School Violence)
In 2001, the number of violent acts in schools was 1,465 cases in 532 elementary schools (2.2% of all elementary schools), 25,769 cases in 3,516 junior high schools (33.7% of all junior highs), 5,896 cases in 1,914 high schools (46.2% of all). The number of violent acts that occurred out of school was 165 in 115 elementary schools (0.5% of all), 3,619 in 1,978 junior high schools (19.0% of all), and 1,317 in 954 high schools (23.0% of all). (Table 11)
Table 11 Acts of Violence at School (public school) (2001)
| Source: | Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
By type of violence, the number of violent acts reported against teachers in schools was 210 in elementary schools, 4,311 in junior high schools, 764 in high schools and those out of school were 2 in elementary school, 61 in junior high schools, and 12 in high schools.
The number of violent acts among students in school was 790 in elementary schools, 11,595 in junior high schools, and 3,262 in high schools, while those out of schools were 110 in elementary schools, 2,476 in junior high schools, and 855 in high schools.
The number of violent acts against other persons in school was 12 in elementary schools, 148 in junior high, and 69 in high schools, while those out of school were 53 in elementary schools, 1,082 in junior high schools, and 450 in high schools.
The number of cases of property destruction reported was 453 in elementary schools, 9,715 in junior highs, and 1,801 in high schools.
In 2002, the police dealt with 675 incidents of school violence, down 173 (20.4%) from the previous year. Of which, 413 cases were violent acts against teachers, down 57 (12.1%) from the previous year.
(Sexual Deviance and Damages)
In 2002, 4,615 juveniles were given guidance or taken into custody for sexually deviant acts and damages, up 261 (6.0%) over the previous year. By academic level, high school students accounted for 39.3%, junior high school students 30.9%, and unemployed juveniles 21.8%. Junior high and high school students accounted for 70.2% in total.
By motive, the most mentioned was"need for money for free-time" with 41.2%.
(Domestic Violence)
In 2002, 1,291 cases of domestic violence by juveniles were reported by the police through consultations with children and guidance activities, down 2 (0.2%) from the previous year. Mothers were the major victims, at 58.9%, followed by home furnishings (16.1%) and relatives living with the juvenile (9.2%).
(Misbehavior)
In 2002, 1,122,233 juveniles were given guidance by the police as a result of their misbehavior (those under 20 who were not juvenile delinquents but were given guidance by the police for drinking, smoking or running away from home).
By type, smoking (42.8%) and loitering at night (42.4%) accounted for the majority.
(Truancy)
In 2001, the number of students who were absent from school for 30 days or more was 26,511 in elementary schools and 112,211 in junior high, up 0.5% and 4.0% from the previous year, respectively (Table 12).
Table 12 Number of Pupils/Students Not Attending Schools (Truants) (1994-2001)
| Notes: | 1. Ratio is that of truants to total number of pupils/students. 2. Truancy means that a pupil is absent from or unable to attend school due to some psychological, emotional, physical, or social cause or background (except when due to illness or financial reasons). |
| Source: | "Basic Survey on Schools," Ministry of Education, Culture , Sports ,Science and Technology |
(Running Away From Home)
In 2002, 23,815 runaway juveniles were found and taken into custody by the police, down 2,417 (9.2%) from the previous year. By academic level, junior high school students had the highest share, at 40.5%, followed by high school students. By gender, females had a higher share, at 57.3%.
(Suicide)
In 2001, the police recorded 586 juveniles who committed suicide, 12 less (down 2.0%) than the previous year. High school students accounted for the highest share, and more males committed suicide than females. (Table 13)
Table 13 Number of Youth Suicides by Academic Background (2001)
| Source: | National Police Agency |