Juvenile Law and the Age of Criminal Adulthood in Japan

Abstract

The question whether the age of criminal adulthood – when offenders are treated
as adults – should be lowered to 18 is before the Ministry of Justice Legislative
Council and is more widely debated in Japan. The present age of 20, high
by international comparisons, in the Juvenile Act 1948 reflects policies of welfare
and educative rehabilitation towards juvenile delinquency, broadly supported
at the time of that law, rather than a strict criminal justice and punishment
approach. Discussion occurs against a background of continuing concern
about the prevalence of juvenile crime, though in reality there has been an
enormous drop over the last decade, reduction in 2015 of the voting age to 18
and the change of the age of adulthood to 18 in the Civil Code, anticipated very
shortly. Even amongst opponents of reducing the age of criminal adulthood
there is an expectancy it will happen.
This article describes the current system of juvenile justice in Japan; recounts
pressure of this century to move away from the protective methods it
employs; sets out amendments to the Juvenile Act that resulted, but which, in
practice, have not fundamentally altered the administration of juvenile law,
though qualified rights have been given to victims and their families; gives an
account of arguments, referring to a Ministry of Justice study, produced at the
end of 2016, and other sources, for and against reducing the age of criminal
adulthood; assesses the consequences of lowering the age to 18; and considers
new forms of adult sentences for 18- and 19-year olds that have been suggested,
containing corrective education and protection, rather than punishment,
preserving much the rehabilitative spirit behind the Juvenile Act. Connected to
these alternatives, put forward by the Ministry of Justice study group and forming
part of the terms of reference for the Legislative Council, is the idea that
sentence of imprisonment should no longer include forced labour, so as to
allow prisoners of whatever age sufficient time to receive effective rehabilitation,
assessed according to their individual needs. Alteration of the age of
criminal adulthood would amount to a significant change in Japanese criminal
justice. Redefining imprisonment, as a consequence, would be a watershed, by
far the most major amendment of the Penal Code since its introduction in 1907.