Changes in Family Responsibility in “Ijime Trials”: Content Analysis of Judgments

Abstract

This study discusses transformation in the imposition of responsibility on families in “ijime trials” (bullying trials) and in the view of the family accepted by the justice system. Specifically, content analysis was conducted on 94 “ijime trials” from 1979 to 2016. Results revealed that (1) since 1990, the degree of imputation of responsibility to the families of victims is higher than that to the families of perpetrators; (2) negligence has come to be pursued, stepping even into details of the family environment; (3) parents are more strongly asked to take primary responsibility for children’s education; and (4) certain idealized family images in which “parents are their child’s best teachers” are sought. The background to these changes suggests that discourse of the “educational power of the family” may have penetrated justice. This paper showed the necessity of two types of further analysis: (1) researching family discourses in justice and (2) whether families are victims or perpetrators.