The Legislative Council, an advisory organ for Minister of Justice, recently announced its decision on revising the Juvenile Law: though the council has postponed a conclusion on the issue of lowering the maximum age to which the law is applicable, keeping the current age of under 20, it has presented a draft bill to penalize more rigorously teens aged 18 and 19. The government’s direction goes along a trend toward more stringent punishment, which we cannot accept.

WE MUST HALT STRINGENT PUNISHMENT ON TEENS

The government issued the result of debates October 29; being taken a timetable of the year 2022 when the age of adulthood is to be formally set as 18 years old, being lowered from the current 20 in the Civil Code, into consideration, males and females in their 18 and 19 years will be treated in the criminal cases as same as a usual grown-up. That means an increased number of youth will be sent to the prosecutors, and after being indcted their real names will be released publicly, in other words, the law is to be worsened and young people will be punished more severely. The council did not refer to lowering the age coverage of the law.

Law was aggravated four times, Stop a fifth time!

The Juvenile Law provides that an adolescent older than 16 years old who has killed a person intentionally to death, as a rule, is to be sent to the prosecutors’ office, and the proposed bill adds rape, arson and robbery committed by the minor of 18 and 19 years old.

Since the Aum-Shinrikyo group’s criminal activities, which include the sarin-poisoning incident at Tokyo’s subway stations, in the criminal code punishment and penalties have been toughened. The fact impacts on the judiciary on teens.

The Juvenile Law has been amended for worse four times since the year 2000; (1) to establish a system in which prosecutors can engage in trials for minors, (2) to create a system in which minors can be sent to prosecutor’s office as a rule, if he/she commits a felony, (3) an introduction of police’s interrogation, and (4) lowering the age of youth who can be sent to a correctional institution. The October’s decision by the government is of the fifth round of amendment.

The government is not keen on ‘sound upbringing’ and ‘guarantee of the right to grow and develop’ but responds to the current social mood of stricter penalization and harsher vengeance. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has persistently clung to lowering the maximum age the law covers, while the council has deferred that. However, the current tendency toward stronger reprimand remains the same.

Agreeing with political settlement

The Legislative Council started reviewing the Juvenile Law in 2017. It has not yet, however, reached a conclusion on lowering the maximum age. Thus the ruling bloc of the LDP, which is in favor of lowering the age, and the partner, Komeito, which advocates minor’s rehabilitation process, has made a compromise; to postpone the law’s applicable age and to penalize more sternly on the 18-19-year-old minors.

Thus, the council has toughened penalties, making a political decision after following the administration. This is unusual. The council is a body of experts, who have renounced their responsibility. The council has left a stain on its liability.

The council says the current system remains the same; a minor is sent to a Family Court so that his/her family circumstances can be investigated and a disciplinary action is taken for rehabilitation. Many of the crimes committed by minors come from abuse and poverty, that is, from family environments. The key objective of the Juvenile Law lies in giving necessary assistance by which rehabilitation may be effective. It is right to maintain the system.

The Ministry of Justice will present a bill to amend the Juvenile Act in the coming Diet session. It is urgently needed to create public sentiment in which the Juvenile Law may not be amended for worse.

November 10, 2020