Japanese Journal of Sociological Criminology
Online ISSN : 2424-1695
Print ISSN : 0386-460X
ISSN-L : 0386-460X
Volume 11
Displaying 1-25 of 25 articles from this issue
  • Article type: Cover
    1986 Volume 11 Pages Cover1-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Cover
    1986 Volume 11 Pages Cover2-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Index
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 1-2
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Appendix
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 3-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Note on Statistical Analysis of Delinquency
    Yoshio Matsumoto
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 4-19
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    A quantitative analysis concerning juvenile delinquency can be divided into extensive reseach and analysis of statistics on delinquency. The present study deals with the technical problems of methods in analyzing statistics on delinquency. It has confirmed its significance in affirming that a quantitative analysis concerning juvenile delinquency must take sociological epidemiology into consideration. Methodological problems in analysing statistics on delinquency need to be elaborated from the following three different aspects. They are : i) Problems in calculation requisites for prescribing statistics on delinquency ; ii) Problems in composing indexes on delinquency ; iii) Problems in measuring, a more precise study based on statistical data. Concerning problems in composing indexes, it has been emphasized that the following indexes should include : (1) The occurence rate of delinquency on the whole ; (2) the occurence rate by sex and age ; (3) indexes of the type of delinquency ; (4) indexes on social attributes of delinquents ; (5) indexes of treatment processes of delinquents ; (6) indexes on the capacity of law enforcement agencies and ; (7) indexes of environmental factors that cause delinquency. In addition, the need for administering a general survey of teen-agers at large is suggested in order to make a sociological analysis on juvenile delinquency more meaningful.
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  • Tsuneko Sato
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 20-37
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    The mass media carries almost everyday news on socio-pathological phenomena such as crime, delinquency and traffic accidents. The news are, however, just "the so-called the tip of the iceberg". More various types of socio-pathological phenomena occur day after day, which is unfortunate indeed for victims and the society as a whole. When you look at the trend of crime in Japan, you will find that the number of larceny theft and stimulant drug controllaw violations increasing up in recent years. Japanese society, as you know, has been developed at a surprising rate. Now, Japanese people can enjoy their high living standard in "an affluent society." So the up-trend of larceny theft seems difficult to comprehend, because larceny theft was considered to be an offence produced by poverty in the past. On the other hand, the recent trend can be analized in the context of recent social structural changes, which has made the global distance much closer not only physically but also psychology. But the "first but least" step for analyzing trends in crime in Japan is to get their precice and accurate prictures. In this article, the author analyses the typical recent trends in crime by dealing with reliable criminal data reported to the police. 1. Penal Code Offenses In 1985, the number of Penal Code offenses reported to the police was 2,121,410, an increase of 41,113 (2.0%) over the previous year. The number of Penal Code offenses recorded, excluding professional negligence, was 1,607,663 which marked an increase of 18,996 (1.2%) over 1984. The number of offenders of Penal Code offenses cleared by the police amounted to 970,226 in 1985, an increase of 8,887 (0.9%) over the preceding year. The number of Penal Code offenders other than those for professional negligence was 432, 107 which marked a decrease of 14,486(3.2%) from 1984. In comparison with the respective numbers in the major categories of reported Penal Code offenses in the previous year, 1985, those of professional negligence, larceny, embezzlement were on the increase, where as those of bodily injury, assault, rape, homicide, robbery were on the decrease. The crime rate (the number of reported offenses for each 100,000 in population) in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany and France in 1984 with respect to offenses equivalent to Japanese Penal Code offenses excluding professional negligence, were 5,031, 6,674, 6,755 and 6,714 respectively. In contrast, the rate in Japan was only 1,289. 2. Special Law Offenses In 1985, public prosecutors offices throughout Japan recieved a total of 2,454,199 suspects of Special Law Offenses, of which 93.0% (2,286,827) were for road traffic violations and 167,372 were for violations of other Special Laws. 3. Juvenile Delinquency In 1985, Penal Code offenses involving a total of 304,070 juvenile and child offenders were cleared by the police. Juvenile and child offender in 1985 accounted for 29.6% of all Penal Code offenders whose offenses were cleared by the police. The year 1985 saw 16.0 juvenile and child offenders per 1,000 juveniles between ten and twenty years of age in population, compared with 8.5 adult offenders per 1,000 adults in the population. The number of juvenile and child offenders investigated by the police for nontraffic Penal Code offenses in 1985 was 250,132, representing 51.2% all nontraffic Penal Code offenders whose offenses were cleared by the police. This number accounts for 13.2 per 1,000 juvenile population, this rate being about five times higher than that for adult offenders. The number of juvenile suspects investigated by the police during 1985 for violations of Special Laws other than road traffic violations totalled 35,803, a decrease of 3,449 from the previous year. Violations of the Poisonous and Hazardous Substances Control Law were the most frequently committed (70.9%), followed by violations of

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  • Haruo Nishimura
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 38-60
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    An index is another simpler, and numerical expression of a complex phenomenon or an abstract concept. So well constructed indexes would give us an accurate and plain understanding of that phenomenon or concept. This paper deals with improvement of criminal justice indexes, especially statistical indexes used in the criminology and the administration of the criminal justice. Seven volumes of the criminal justice statistics are published annually in Japan by three agencies. They are : Police Crime Statistics, the Ministry of Justice Annual Report of Prosecution, the Supreme Court Annual Report of Criminal Procedure, the Supreme Court Annual Report of Juvenile Procedure, the Ministry of Justice Annual Report of Correction I and II, and the Ministry of Justice Annual Report of Parole and Probation. The kinds of statistical items of each volume were presented in summary at the end of this paper. It is pointed out that official statistics compiled by the criminal justice agencies are a source of objective and usefui knowledge and at the same time a source of imperfection and error messages. Aside from the immaturity or intentional manipulation of data collection and input by the criminal justice personnel, these imperfection and error derive from our incomplete interpretation about what these statistical indexes indicate. They are neither more nor ldss than what we expect, and in present society the mass media intervene between the statistics and us. Thus our understanding of the criminal justice statistics depends partly upon the quality of the mass media. Several issues on the criminal justice statistics have been discussed until the present. Some of them seem to be legitimate, and others to be meaningless. Further mention was made of such problems as a sense or nonsense of a durk figure, the proposal of consumer-oriented statistics, regarding statistics as reflecting either a reality or a wishful thinking of the routine work of the agencies, a criminologist's way of approach to the statistics, a new conceptual definition of crime and crime rate, the idea of the criminal justice system being defined as a value-added process, not as an arbitrary decision making process, the concept of criminal justice system as a social organization composed of its personnel, and a new type of statistics for the sake of crime prevention rather than for processing criminals. Those new conceptualization of the crime and criminal justice system will certainly stimulate and promote improvement of the production of the existing statistics and a better understanding of them.
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  • Article type: Appendix
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 61-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Yoshio Tsujimoto, Kazushi Fujiyoshi
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 62-78
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    The so-called "Miura Fever" has swept the nation over the past 20 months since the weekly magazine <Bungei-Shunju>___- published an article voicing skepticism about the Los Angels murder case. The news of Mr. Miura's arrest gave the public the impression of the importer being guilty before his innocence was proven. He was arrested as a suspect only on charge of a slight injury done to his former wife. Even if he had commited a crime he has no reason to suffer such abusive reports by mass media. By and large, the Japanese public seems to have accustomed to reading newspapers or watching TV reporting of criminal suspects in which reporters treat arrested persons as though they were already convicted. Kenichi Asano, author of "The Crime of Criminal Reporting", calls crime reporters "The police with a pen". He reached a conclusion that the best way to avoid victims of journalists' reporting is not to reveal suspects' names at all. By publishing criminal suspects' names, the media have penalized them even before the police started investigation. Referring to cases involving false charges, it takes many years for a person to legally restore his/her rights and life. Many defamatory publications might be dealt with either in the civil courts, or the criminal courts. A defamer could be sent to prison or made to pay for damages - this is Libel and Slander. Although the law of libel may seem severlly applied to newspapers, it was codified (according to articles 13 and 21 of our constitution and item 230-2 of our Criminal Law) in such a way as to protect the legitimate functions of a free Press while still protecting the reputation of individuals. In England, contempt of court has existed in the common law for many centuries to protect the administration of justice against interference of any kind. Contempt of Court Act 1981 gave journalists greater protection against being held liable for unintentional contempt because of the danger of prejudice in a particular case. Without having such act, Japanese journalists must try to report with the decencies. We consider "The presumption of innocence" - a man is presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty - to be the outstanding principle of a modern criminal law. Crime reporting can and will be changed as people's awareness of human rights improves.
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  • Kenzaburo Shiomi
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 79-99
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    Crime news often poses problems of undue damage to peace and integrity of the people involved. Particularly true in our society where competitive media swarm over whatever topic (or scandal) they sniff out and almost one-ethnic nation of a hundred million population of one language, one time (GMT) and of virtually one life-style well sup on headlines passed over into the door of each house. The year 1985 was characterized by our mass media having reached a new depth in combing out scandals, murders and accident bloodsheds, too deep and too derogatory. Reporters' pushing too far recoiled on itself. Mr.Asano, a reporter at the Kyodo News Agency, voiced a call for more decency in reporting. He referred to Scandinavian "anonymity reporting" and Press council/Ombudsman system. Asano's point was supported by many fellow news-men, lawyers, academics as well as by lay citizens. They initiated a movement to improve the present system of mass media. There is another problem for us to sift out. The government policy of "non-access to public documents," apparently undemocratic practices obstinately handed over from old regime, should be recalled. Establishment of the principle of free access to public documents provides a basis for a drastic change in the relations between the government and the media and between the media and the people・・・・・・from subordinative to equal relationships, because the press no longer "monopolize" the news-sources. Some examples of autonomous schemes of self-restraint on the part of mass media are reviewed : Ombudsman of the Washington Post and other United States newspapers, and Swedish Press Ombudsman and Press Council. They are not legal entities, their decisions being publicized by virtue of agreement with mass media. They accept complaints, investigate those worthy of attention, and then take steps to remedy the problems ・・・・・・"intercession, conciliation, or, in extremes, publicizing professional misconduct in order to force improvement. The word publicizing means to let both newsrporters, editors and the readers know what is right and what is wrong. They all need improved recognition・・・・・・a sure method to control the problem.
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  • Chiaki Matui
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 100-109
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Appendix
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 111-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Ikuo Fukuda
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 112-130
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    This paper presents some trends of juvenile firesetters in Japan. We know the juvenile firesetting has not become yet one of great social problems as it is in the United States. But there may be some factors which generate increased arson cases. The following are several characteristic and qualitative changes in juvenile firesetting in the past 10 years. Statistically speaking, about 1 % of all juvenile arsonists are psychoses, and this rate is still decreasing. In contrast, arsonists aged 14 and 15, are increasing. At present, they amount to 45-50 % of all juvenile firesetters. An interesting fact is that more than 50 % of kid accomplices who committed arson were aged 14 and 15. In a socio-economical point of view, juvenile firesetters belong to the lower class more often compared with other kinds of delinquency. In the United States, it is reported that most juvenile firesetters are from the middle class. The trend in Japan is in contrast with that in the United States. The auther has arrived at the following conclusions. Very few young arsonists suffer mental diseases. Most of them are normal through troubled. The younger firesetters may increase in future. They may set fire as accomplices in the crime. In order to understand increasing younger arsonists, analysis of the symbolic meaning of flame and the motivation to set fire will offer more important clue.
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  • Masakazu Iwasaki
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 131-150
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    Recently the crime phenomenon was analyzed quantitatively by some co-operative researches between statisticians and criminological researchers, particularly in U.S.A. This movement might be natural from the recent view of the notable development of new statist/ical procedures. Although there are many approaches to criminal research, the method employed in this paper was statistical and should be compatible with traditional forms of research. First, we analyzed the change of main crimes in Japan after World War II using a Log-linear model which is a fairly new statistical procedure. Secondly, we made the time pattern of the change of each prefecture and classified the 47 prefectures into groups in terms of the similarity of the pattern. As a result of the analysis, we found the phenomenon of the change as follows : Felonious and violent crimes tended to decrease, but larceny and intellectual crimes showed a tendency to increase. That is, the weight of the main crime has changed from felonious and violent crimes to theft and intellectual crimes. Finally, we classified each brefecture into 5 groups by the time pattern of the change as follows : [Year] (1954)→(1966)→(1974)→(1984) Class 1 (Complex pattern)→(Rape, Assault, Injury)→(Theft)→(Theft) Class 2 (Complex pattern)→(Rape, Assault, Injury) or (Rape, Assault)→(Theft) or (no feature)→(Fraud) Class 3 (Complex pattern)→(Rape, Assault, Injury)→(Theft)→(Theft, Fraud) Class 4 (Complex pattern)→(Assault, Injury) or (Injury, Theft) or (Rape, Assault, Injurj)→(Assault) or (Theft) or (Assault, Theft)→(Theft) or (Embezzlement) or (Theft, Embezlement) Class 5 (Theft, Embezzlement)→(Robbery, Arson, Assault, Injury, Fraud)→(Robbery, Rape, Assault, Injury)→(Theft)
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  • Tetsu Mugikura
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 151-174
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    The Family Court can entrust delinquent boys to Hodo-Itakusaki, according to the process of juvenile justice (The Japanese Juvenile Law, art. 25). Of Course, it is necessary for such a decision to be based on a reasonable judgement. The trustee (master of Hodo-Itakusaki) protects and guides boys for the restoration of their sound daily lives. In case guidance in Hodo-Itakusaki is successfully completed, the boys don't generally need treatment in a refomatory. This paper aims to describe the present state of Hodo-Itakusaki, from the viewpoint of its speciality and diversity. Most of the data used are based on interviews with the four trustees. 1. Hodo-Itakusakies have specialities in some respects in overall jevenile protection system. (1) Delinquent boys must leave their usual living conditions when they are entrusted to Hodo-Itakusakies, and very often they can get out of their pathological living conditions. (2) The boys come to lead regular lives under the guidance of trustees. (3) Trustees treat boys individually and understand each boy's way of thinking. (4) Trustees guide boys with positive guidance programs. (5) The goal of this guidance by Hodo-Itakusakies is to make boys lead stable lives in their new living conditions. For example, most boys individually need to get jobs suitable for them. 2. There is diversity in Hodo-Itakusakies. Itakusakies are different from each other in some respects, to meet diversity of boys' needs. (1) Itakusakies vary in the capacity and the composition of their staff, although the maximum capacity of each Itakusaki is 20 boys. (2) Each Itakusaki has a unique evironment and living facilities. Some Itakusakies are located in cities, others in places closer to nature. (3) Each Itakusaki has its own image of a boy who will fit its programs and lives, and as long as boys are suitably selected and entrusted, the guidance for boys generally yield goods effects. (4) Each Itakusaki has its own concrete guidance program. It provides boys with opportunities to reflect on themselves in some cases, train themselves in others. There are the speciality and the diversity in Hodo-Itakusakies. If these resources are effectively and appropriately applied, the role of the Hodo-Itakusaki in total juvenile justice system will become increasingly important.
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  • Masaharu Hata
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 175-198
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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    Bullying is not only educational problem but also serious societal problem at present. Contemporary bullying problem is characterized by bullying the weaker in groups. In addition, some forms of bullying tend to become more wicked and criminal obviously. Recently, there are cases in which bullied juveniles committed suicide. Based upon these contemporary tendencies concerning bullying problem, this paper analyzes the primary factor of bullying. Moreover, the problem of educational process in school which affects the bullying is distussed in a viewpoint of educational pathology. The results are as follows : (1) There are two types of deviant behaviors, bullying and non-bullying (see Figure 2). Bullying deviant behavior type is characterized by a series of bullying acts as a matter of course. This type is relevant to defiant attitudes toward class teacher. On the other hand, non-bullying type is characterized by criminal acts and absence of bullying. (2) Bullying is related to the defiant attitude toward class teacher, as previously stated. For example, juveniles who commit the bullying speak in of their class teachers behind their back (see Table 1). Consequently, it stands to reason that bullying is caused by juveniles' distrust of class teachers (see Table 2). (3) The structure of human relations in a classroom forms the background of bullying among juveniles. In every classroom, there are a few juveniles disliked by all other classmates. Classmates turn a cold shoulder on, and bully these isolated members in various ways. That is to say, the juvenile is entirely alienated and bullied by the rest of his/her classmates (see Figure 5). (4) As a result of Hayashi's quantification method of the first type the most influential variable of bullying is an attitude toward a class teacher, and then breach of school regulations (see Table 4). As to a variable of suffering the bully, the primary factor is immaturity in mentality (see Table 5). (5) Simply stated, bullying problem is a pathological phenomenon of school education, because the problem reflects mutually distrustful relationships between class teachers and juveniles. However, it is necessary to interpret positively this fact. We need to investigate desirable relationship structure between class teachers and juveniles in order to eradicate bullying.
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  • Kiyotaka Oda
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 199-207
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Setsuo Miyazawa
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 208-217
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Akira Hattori
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 218-222
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Osamu Niikura
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 223-227
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Shinichi Ishizuka
    Article type: Article
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 228-235
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Appendix
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 236-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Appendix
    1986 Volume 11 Pages 237-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Cover
    1986 Volume 11 Pages Cover3-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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  • Article type: Cover
    1986 Volume 11 Pages Cover4-
    Published: 1986
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2017
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