by Eddie Landsberg

Opinions Dec. 17, 2011 - 06:47AM JST ( 15 )

TOKYO —

Those who lived in Japan at the time will never forget it.

In 1997, a 14-year-old boy from Kobe decapitated an 11-year-old boy, left his head on the gate of a school with a cryptic message in his mouth, then went on to bludgeon a 10-year-old girl to death. He was put away for six years, and released at the age of 21 without any comment or details.

According to an AP report, the boy had received psychiatric counseling and vocational training at two reformatory schools and the justice minister said that efforts to rehabilitate the youth (whose name was never officially disclosed) had achieved results.

The same year, a 12-year-old schoolgirl in Nagoya was stabbed to death during lunchtime at her school by an 11-year-old boy. Media reports concurred that she suffered a wound to the neck, though others claimed she had cuts all over her body. The little girl was pronounced dead on the scene.

At a time of rising juvenile crime, the crimes sparked heated debate in the Diet and the result was the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14.

The question arises, however, as to the effectiveness of lowering the criminal age as a deterrent to crime. In general, the idea of having harsh penalties is to encourage would-be criminals to weigh the benefits of committing the crime with the cost of the punishment.  The problem is many children and adolescents who commit crimes suffer from impulse control problems that rob them of the ability to understand the consequences of their behavior in the first place. As a result, tough laws may get them off the street after they commit the crime, but won’t stop them from committing them.

In addition, there is periodic debate on just how far to go in lowering the age of adult sentencing. The same year the age was lowered to 14, an 11-year-old boy from Amagasaki in Hyogo was held on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death during a jostle after she found him trying to commit suicide. No charges could be leveled against him because he was below the minimal sentencing age.

Although juvenile felonies represent only a small portion of convictions, sensational stories usually lead to debate over the appropriateness of harsher sentencing, not better mental health screening.

I have no doubt that the latest case will reignite the debate.

Just last month, a 16-year-old boy slashed a 15-year-old high school girl in Misato, Saitama Prefecture, then a few weeks later, stabbed an 8-year-old girl not so far away in Matsudo, Chiba.

When he was picked up by police, he had a switchblade knife and a machete in his bag. He was quoted by police as saying that he wanted to commit murder. After his arrest, a collection of 20 bladed weapons were found in his home.

As is the case when similar stories occur anywhere in the world, it’s hard for people not to wonder, “Shouldn’t the kid’s parents have been able to pick up on any telltale clues that something was wrong?” Should the boy have been able to stockpile that many weapons right under his parents’ nose?

According to reports, he was attending a correspondence school. We might speculate (and it is speculation), that he could have had trouble getting along with his peers or been removed from school for a reason.

The truth is, we don’t know – and we don’t even know whether or not he was in the process of getting help. What we do know is that, fortunately, thanks to a report by local residents of a boy with a knife being seen on the street, and surveillance camera footage, he was caught pretty quickly.

One may wonder, though, how common are crimes like this. Actually, they’re not. The juvenile arrest rate in Japan is 13 per 1,000 people, but this includes mainly petty crimes. Vicious crimes consist of only 1% of these. A total of about 3,000 juveniles are sentenced to reformatory centers a year, for crimes which include assault, extortion and drug use. 

As for the system of juvenile incarceration, inmates receive a type of daily counseling and guidance called “mendan,” which is a type of “intimate personal interaction.” During the process, the teacher takes notes on any changes in the student’s character and attitude.

In addition, some centers have started to introduce social skills training and cognitive behavior therapy. There is also a type of group therapy called “Home Room Hour” in which the students talk about their “attitudes” and how to correct them. There are other uniquely Japanese therapies, which involve self-reflection, as well as “Naikan-ho” in which the students reflect on how to develop a proper societal role.

The goal of rehabilitation is to lead to “shokuzaikan”—penal reform as defined by the reshaping of self, mind and purification in learning how to view the crime that was committed from a different perspective.

All of this, however, misses the mark, in my opinion. The concept of imprisonment as a time for “purification” and “reshaping of attitude” may be sensible, but does it truly get around to the root of the psychological, neurological or socio-environmental sickness that led the child to behave in such a way? True, it is an infinite leap from beating the badness out of naughty little boys and girls, but is it modern?

Furthermore, there is the issue of prevention versus rehabilitation. While Japanese public schools currently have counselors, they are usually only available one day a week. The question arises whether teachers are adequately trained to “red flag” problems, bring them to the counselor’s office and make sure adequate resources are made available to prevent tragedies before they occur.

We need to think deeply about this if our aim is to have a society that not only raises healthy children, but also allows those who are in most need of help to get it before it is too late. 

Author Infomation

Eddie Landsberg

Eddie Landsberg is a writer, musician and reviewer who's lived and taught in Japan for 17 years. He presents stories and interviews on a wide range of topics related to changing Japanese society. He's recorded three internationally distributed CDs as a Hammond organist. Among his hobbies shogi, dog training and collecting R&B.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/eddie.landsberg1