Topic II: Measures against Child Abuse(1) Child Abuse
I. Current Situation of Child Abuse
The number of inquiries and reports thatChild Guidance Centers receive concerning
child abuse continues to increase nationwide.
The number in FY2013 was 73,802, up by
40,394 (or 120.9%) from FY2004. In 2014,
the number of cleared cases for child abuse
was 698, an increase of 470 (or 206.1%) from2004. As serious cases of child abuse havebeen happening one after another, the national
government, as well as the police, must takemeasures for the prevention of child abuse.
II. Measures Taken by the PoliceWhen the police are informed of a child
who is suspected of being abused, police
officers take measures such as visiting thechild at home to ensure that the child is safe,
visiting neighbors of the child to collectinformation and making inquiries on various
information.
After
determining
thesignificance and urgency of the need to takemeasures, the police decide whether to pursue
criminal charges of a child-abuse case, takethe abused child into protective custody orgive notice of child abuse to a Child GuidanceCenter, with the first priority always given to
the confirmation and securing of the safety ofchildren. In 2014, the police took 2,034
children into protective custody and informed
Child Guidance Centers about the abuse of28,923 children.
Case: In November 2014, the neighbor of ayoung boy called the police and informed
them that the boy was walking around thestreets alone at night. The police inquired
into the circumstances of the boy, 6, andfound that his mother, 26, frequently left
the boy alone at home because of hernight-time job. Due to the fact that her
conduct had been reported to the police
multiple times in the past and she had notimproved the situation for her son, thepolice suspected that the boy had been
neglected and took him in protective
custody after which he was transferred tothe Child Guidance Center.

Chart II-1 Number of child abuse inquiries/reports received by Child Guidance Centers per year(FY2004 - FY2013)- 24 -

Chart II-2 Number of cleared cases for child abuse per year (2004-2014)

III. Collaboration with Child GuidanceCenters
In order to detect and protect abusedchildren at the earliest possible opportunity,
the police collaborate with the Child GuidanceCenter. Specifically, the police conduct joint
training with these centers so that police
officers and officials of these centers can learn
how they should inspect the domicile orresidence of an abused child or search for achild who is suspected of being abused 2 .
Retired police officers are employed tosupport these operations with Child GuidanceCenters. The addition of a juvenile support
center 3 for each Child Guidance Center isalso promoted by the police.
When the director of a Child GuidanceCenter requests the assistance of a police

station chief4in confirming the safety of a childby staff members of the center, police officersaccompany the staff members to the incident
site.

Joint training for inspections and search by
officials of Child Guidance Centers

Case: In February 2014, the police received
a report of an abused child. After informinga Child Guidance Center, police officers
accompanied the center's staff members to
the residence of a boy in order to confirm
his safety. They found that his father, 26,and mother, 23, had been keeping their
3-year-old son restrained on a dog leash,
which was tied to a window lock. By March2014, both parents were arrested for illegal
arrest and confinement of the boy. The boy

2: Article 9-3 of the Act on the Prevention, etc. of Child
Abuse stipulates the following: A prefectural governormay, when he/she finds suspicion of ongoing child abusein cases where the custodian of the child fails to follow
the request for appearance, cause an official engaged in
the affairs concerning welfare of children to inspect thedomicile or residence of the child or search for the child,for ensuring that safety of the child is confirmed andsecured, with a permit issued in advance by a judge of a
district court which has jurisdiction over the location of
the domicile or residence of the child.
3: As of April 1, 2015, 195 juvenile support centers havebeen established nationwide with 66 of these centers
located outside police facilities.

4: Article 10 of the Act on the Prevention, etc. of Child
Abuse stipulates the following: When the director of aChild Guidance Center intends to confirm the safety of achild and/or take temporary protective custody of a child,he/she may ask the chief of a police station having
jurisdiction over the location of the domicile or residenceof the child for assistance, as needed.

- 25 -

was put under the temporary protective
custody of the Child Guidance Center.

(2) Crimes Related to Child PornographyChild pornography depicts children asvictims of sexual abuse and assault, andtherefore are vicious crimes that infringe
significantly on children's human rights.
Against a backdrop of growing international
concern regarding the defense of children'srights and protection of children from crimes
related to child pornography, the Act on thePartial Revision to the Act on Punishment ofActivities Relating to Child Prostitution andChild Pornography 5 was enacted in June,
2014. With this enactment, punishable
offenses were widened to include possessionof child pornography for the purpose ofsatisfying one's sexual curiosity andproduction of child pornography by means ofsecret filming6.
Pursuant to the revised Act7, the police have
stepped up on the crackdown on crimes
related to child pornography. In the period
from July 15, 2015, when the revised Act wasput into force, to the end of 2015, there were
29 cleared cases for production of secretly
filmed child pornography involving 28
children as victims.

Wristwatch video camera used for secret filming(3) Violent Sex Crimes against Children
With the aim of preventing and promptly
countering crimes in which children arevictimized, the police have been taking thefollowing countermeasures.
I. Promotion of Operations by Juvenile andWoman Aegis Team (JWAT)In April 2009, JWAT8 was established by
the Metropolitan Police Department and byeach Prefectural Police Headquarters. TheJWAT collect and analyze information oncases against juveniles and women that areconsidered to be the preliminary stages ofsexual crime, such as accosting andshadowing, to identify the suspect. An
identified suspect is arrested or given awarning or offered guidance by the JWAT. In
addition to conventional police controls, thesepreemptive and preventive efforts of theJWAT are actively promoted to prevent sex
crimes against juveniles and women.

Case: In July 2014, an unemployed man,48, secretly filmed two undressed young
girls in the men's dressing room of a publicbathhouse, by using a wristwatch video
camera. The following August, the man wasarrested for production of secretly filmedchild pornography, a violation of the newly
revised Act on Regulation and Punishmentof Acts Relating to Child Prostitution andChild Pornography.

Case: In October 2014, the police received areport on a case of indecency, and theJWAT
conducted
aninvestigation.
According to the report, a man talked to a
7-year-old girl who was on her way toschool. He said, "Hey, stop", and thenproceeded to press his hand on the girl's
lower abdomen, while putting his cellphone
inside her skirt to take photographs. Within
the same month, a man, 32, was identified
as a suspect and arrested for forcible
indecency.

5: The Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection ofChildren
6: The provisions stipulating prohibitions on the possession ofchild pornography for the purpose of satisfying one's sexual
curiosity and the retention of electromagnetic recordings ofchild pornography became applicable on July 15, 2015.
7: The Act on Regulation and Punishment of Acts Relating toChild Prostitution and Child Pornography, and theProtection of Children

II. Strengthening the System to Prevent
Violent Child Sex Offenders from
Repeating Offenses after They Are Released
8: Juvenile and Woman Aegis Team- 26 -

Since June 2005, each Prefectural Police
Headquarters has been making it a rule toobtain information from the Ministry ofJustice for confirming the whereabouts ofpersons who were released after serving timefor forcible indecency or other violent sex
offenses against children under the age of 13.
In April 2011, the police began to reinforce
measures aimed at preventing repeat offenses.
When necessary, the police, with the proper
consent of the former child sex offenders,
conduct interviews with them.

- 27 -