Is Child Abuse Increasing?

Abstract

The increase in and seriousness of child abuse is often mentioned not only in the public reports but also as the opinions of experts, and is conventional wisdom in Japan. Needless to say, child abuse is a very serious problem. However, whether it is really increasing in actual numbers and whether the severity of the content is increasing must be considered separately. In this paper, we find that it is not easy to say that the increase or seriousness is progressing, and consider the fact that there is even the opposite possibility. Despite this fact, there is no societal doubting of the “increase” and “seriousness,” because the “number of cases of abuse counseling and response” published every year by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare shows a substantial increase. But the “number of cases of counseling,” which includes many false reports, does not show whether there has been an increase or decrease. The “actual numbers” that have been dealt with and actually confirmed as “abuse” are important. However, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare does not reveal these numbers. Japanʼs “countermeasures for abuse” are proceeding without taking into account the basic data of “actual numbers.” In this paper, I will consider some of the reasons for this.