According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education, bullying case at school amounted to more than 21 thousands in 1993. In many cases, bullying of a child is known to neither the parents nor the teachers for several reasons until it causes serious results such as committing suicide, and bodily injury, which lead eventual death of the victim. The 1994 White Paper on Police reports that only 234 students for involvement in bullying were guided by the police. The schools often report the case to the Board of Education, but rather rarely to the community as well as the police. The police has been passive about intervention in bullying cases, since they have expected the resolution in school system except in serious cases. However, they seem to be changing the attitudes toward more active response. Only serious cases are referred to the Family Court. In general, severe sanction against the bully may not be efficient, since they do not understand the consequences of their conducts for their infancy. They do not either appreciate the pain of the victims, the responsibility to take for, or the impacts upon their life course. It is essential to take educational approach even when they are referred to the Family Court. In most cases the bullies admit the fact of bullying. However, in a recent case a junior high school student died in a gymnasium storeroom, being rolled in mattress, which was alleged to be caused by bullying by a number of children and unconcern of others. The Family Court found 3 children guilty out of 6. They denied the fact and appealed for "retrial" but failed. It should be noticed the police interrogation of juveniles is much invisible and they do not have enough ability of defense.

抄録全体を表示

This article discusses some legal problems related to the policies against the "bullyings" in schools of Japan today from the point of the human rights of children. Six main points are taken for discussion: 1. What is the relation between the bullyings and the human rights of children? 2. The development of bullyings as social and legal matters seen from the chart. 3. Is suspension of attendance to the class effective as a measure against bullyings? 4. Roles and activities of lawyers who are sensitive to the human rights of children to be expected for the solution of bullyings in schools. 5. Presentation of a system model toward solution of bullyings. 6. Practicing "parental rights" given in the civil law to work against bullyings.

抄録全体を表示

Ijime (bullying) and juvenile delinquency are considered separately. As a result, domestic courts, the institutions which generally deal with juvenile delinquency, rarely examined cases of Ijime in the past. However, with Ijime having come to be treated as a major social problem, the situation is changing. To cope with cases where Ijime has reached proportions serious enough to justify legal procedures, a full understanding of the distincive nature of Ijime is necessary. The use of a defined concept of Ijime has the advantage of helping us to better our understanding of children's behavior and human relationships. However, if we make Ijime simply a judicial matter, there is a danger that legal institutions will become involved and take coercive measures in cases which were originally meant to be treated by educational and welfare institutions. The problem of whether or not juvenile law and jurisdiction is an appropriate way to settle cases of Ijime requires careful consideration. Ijime appears in many types of juvenile law cases in a variety of forms. For example, 1. When the act of Ijime itself is perceived as a crime. 2. While appearing to be unrelated, the case actually involves Ijime or the grave results thereof. 3. When the victim retaliates against the perpetrator of Ijime. One distinctive characteristic of Ijime is that it is swayed to a certain extent by the victim's perception of pain and anguish. For this reason, the viewpoint of protection of the victim is called for to a comparatively greater extent than other types of cases involving juveniles. In juvenile law, judicial procedures take the facts of the juvenile delinquency into consideration against a backdrop of the need for protection of the parties. How should Ijime be placed within this framework? Depending on whether we consider Ijime in terms of the factual aspects of the juvenile delinquency or in terms of the need for protection, there is bound to be a substantial discrepancy in the results. In cases of Ijime, it is necessary to adopt measures which take the growth and development of both the perpetrator and the victim into consideration.

抄録全体を表示

First year student, Ippei Kojima (false name, thirteen years old at that time) was found as dead body inside the mat in a sporting goods room in the gymnasium at Meilin junior high school, Sinjo-city, Yamagata. He was turned upside down inside the mat which was rolled and set up. This accident is called "Bullying Mat Dead Matter". Police arrested seven senior students who were said to be in the gymnasium at that time for bodily injury and confinement resulting in death, and then anounced this matter as wicked bullying. Yamagata Family Court decided that they were not punished at the first trial. Because judges doubted boy's confession and this matter's background or motive were not clear. However, at the second trial in Sendai High Court, judges continues their confession and refused their statement for the accident death. Supreme Court rejected recomplaint of co unsel. The court has a big problem that is gives too much importance in "confession". And the court is willing to accept one-sided investgation report by police on boy's proceeding as evidence. And this prompts the court to give too much importance to confession and make it difficult to solve the truth of this matter which is undoubtedly innocent in order to reach a fair conclusion, it is necessary to examine confession on boy's matter objectively and analytically.

抄録全体を表示

This research aims at identifying the treatment difficulties in probationary and parole supervision, the main forms of non-institutional treatment of offenders. The research method is as follows. We collected data from 586 probation officers who answered questions about the degrees of difficulty in treating offenders. There were 72 indexes. Then we analyzed the data using factor analysis. Four factors showing a high degree of difficulty were extracted. They are: Cases in which a probationer has a problem in his or her character or family environment (factor 1), cases in which there is a risk of committing a new crime (factor 2), cases in which professional knowledge and skills of the probation officer are required (factor 3), and cases in which a probationer defies supervision (factor 4). The followings are important relations we discovered between each factor and attributes of probation officers. 1. Comparing the mean of factor 4 scores by sex, the mean of scores for male officers is higher than that for female officers. 2. As for the mean by age group, for both factor 3 and factor 4 the mean of factor scores for those in their thirties is the highest of all age groups. 3. Length of experience as a probation officer does not have any significant relationship with any of the factors. By learning the nature of the difficulties in treatment, probation officers will be able to take measures against the causes of difficulty corresponding to the four factors and will be able to reduce those difficulties. Thus, the results of this research will help to conduct more effective probationary and parole supervision.

抄録全体を表示

When actors within corporate hierarchies take "actions" on behalf of their organizations, how would the responsibility of the actions be attributed to various elements, such as actors, actors superiors who have the authority of decision making, or organizations? In addition, how would the attribution of responsibility be affected by various circumstantial factors, such as the types of decision making, awareness of possible consequence, and rank within the organizational hierarchy? This study focused on the responsibility of wrongdoing within corporate hierarchies, often described as "corporate crime." Survey of random sample of 600 adults was conducted respectively in Washington, D. C., U. S. A., Tokyo, Japan, and Moscow, Russia. Respondents heard 6 vignettes, 4 basic ones and 2 tentative ones, about wrongdoing in corporate settings. Manipulations include actor's awareness of possible consequence (higt intent vs. low intent), actor's hierarchical position (authority vs. subordinate), and other's influence in the decision making process (independent, collective, ordered by the superior). 4 basic vignettes are automobile safety problem, drug's side effect, news on environmental pollution, and dumping of toxic substance. 2 tentative vignettes are abandoned substance and bribe. Respondents evaluated the responsibility of the actor's, that of actor's, that of actor's superiors who have the authority of decision making, and that of the corporate, as well as the avoidability of possile consequence, seriousness of the consequence, and so forth. Results indicated that the responsibility of the actor for what happened was greatest when the actor was an authority and was acting independently. Hierarchical position and other's influence also interacted in the three cities, such that authorities were excused less for collective decision making or ordered by the superior than were subordinates. Avoidability showed the similar results as that of responsibility, and was larger when the actor was authority than when the actor was subordinate. Responsibility of the organization was high in Japan and the U. S. A. but was low in Russia, while the responsibility of the actor was low in Japan but was high in Russia. Responsibility of the actor's superior and colleagues was higher in the U. S. A. than in Japan. Position of the actor and other's influence also showed the statistical significance in the evaluation of responsibility of superior and colleagues.

抄録全体を表示

The sexual offences may be grouped into three types with their protecting interests. Those in the first type consist of rape and sexual assault etc., which protect freedom to consent to sexual intercourse or other indecent acts. Those in the second type consist of the article forbidding obscene acts to juveniles in Ordinance for eliminating harmful circumstances surrounding juveniles, Child Welfare Act and Anti-Prostitution Act etc., which protect the youth who have the immature capacity to concent to sexual activities, from sexual abuse by the adults. Those in the third type consist of the crime of indececent behavior in public, and the crime of distributing the pornographic books etc., which protect social sexual morality or sexual sense. Looking the history of the regulation on the sexual offences, it declares clearly the changes of the women's social and marital status. Those in the first type were considered as the offences which invade sexual morality in the past, but recently, the existance of consent at the sexual intercourse had been regarded as important, so the necessity of the protection from the injury by the sexual assault in the familiar terms were recognized gradually. Those in the second type aim to regulate the activities of sexual abuse to the juveniles whether or not the victim consents. In those field, ambiguity of the word "Inkou" (obscene act) and the rationality of paternalistic intrusion by the penal sanction are called in question. Those in the third type were gradually decriminalized with the progress of the sence of liberation of sex. In this paper, it is aimed to consider what is the better method to protect the interests being invaded by those in the first and the second types of sexual offences.

抄録全体を表示