TREATMENT IN JUVENILE TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR
GIRLS IN JAPAN
Hirohisa Katayama

I. OUTLINE OF GIRLS ADMITTED TO JUVENILE TRAINING SCHOOLS
A. System of Juvenile Training Schools (JTS)
1. Definition of Delinquent Juveniles in Japan
In Japan,“delinquent juveniles”are defined as juveniles under 20 years of age who committed penal
code offences and pre-delinquent juveniles. Specifically, delinquent juveniles include “juvenile
offenders”aged 14 or over and “juveniles of illegal behavior”under 14 years of age;“pre-delinquentjuveniles”refers to juveniles who have exhibited such behaviour,being deemed likely to result in future
offences or violations of criminal laws and regulations,in light of personal character or environment
due to a tendency to disobey the lawful supervision of guardians, and so on.
As most delinquent juveniles newly admitted to JTS are over 14 years of age,this paper will focus
on the treatment of JTS for delinquent girls from 14 to 19 years of age. In Japan,juveniles of 14 yearsof age are typically second-year students in junior high school (eighth grade).Twenty years of age isthe age of majority (i.e. the age of adulthood).
2. Flow of JuvenilesʼAdmission to JTS
Since the procedure of delinquent juvenilesʼadmission to JTS is complicated in Japan,the following
explanation only touches on the typical flow. The police and the public prosecutor, as the criminal
investigators,should refer all cases of juvenile offenders to the family court.The prefectural governoror the directors of child guidance centers can also refer juveniles of illegal behaviour and predelinquent juveniles to the family court.
The family court may order a family court probation officer to conduct an investigation of thejuvenileʼs family environment. In addition,when it is necessary to conduct a hearing,the family court
determines whether protective detention is necessary, which is committing the juvenile to a juvenileclassification home (JCH),and the family court may require classification of the juvenileʼs predisposition by psychologists at the JCH. In light of the result of the investigation and classification ofpredisposition, the family court may determine to place the juvenile under protective measures.
The Juvenile Law prescribes three protective measures:1.probationary supervision,2.commitment
to a support facility for development of self-sustaining capacity or to a childrenʼ
s home, and 3.
commitment to a JTS. Other than referring the case to the public prosecutor for a criminal trial,commitment to a JTS is the most severe disposition for delinquent juveniles because it involves
confining juveniles in an institution for treatment.
3. JTS for Girls
In Japan,JTS are single-sex facilities which accommodate either boys or girls. There are 9 JTS forgirls placed equally in each district all over Japan. This placement of JTS reflects the thought that it
is important for juveniles to maintain good relationships with their families for rehabilitation. Becauseof the high concentration of medical staff,Medical Juvenile Training Schools,of which there are only
two in Japan, accommodate both boys and girls, but they are generally divided into boysʼand girlsʼ
living quarters at the institution.

Deputy-Superintendent, Aikoh Juvenile Training School for Girls, Japan.

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B. Characteristics of Girls Admitted to JTS
1. Decrease in Delinquent GirlsThe number of girls cleared for non-traffic penal code offences in 2011 decreased significantly to
43.1% in 2002,and their percentage of the total population of the same age group in 2011 also decreased
to 50.6% of that in 2002. The number ofpre-delinquent girls who were given guidance bythe police also
decreased from 981 in 2002 to 442 in 2011,and the number of girls referred by police for Stimulant Drug
Control Law violations,which is the largest one of the special law offences,sharply decreased from 423
in 2002 to 115 in 2011. In addition,the number of girls referred by the police for prosecution under the
Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Law violations, such as abusing or possessing paintthinner or other substances, dramatically decreased from 1,075 in 2002 to 40 in 2011. As a result, thenumber of girls committed to JTS decreased from 554 in 2002 to 329 in 2011,which is a decline of about
59.4%.
Judging from the fact that the 2011 population of girls between 14 and 20 years of age declined tojust 85% of the 2002 population, the number of delinquent girls is decreasing faster than the girlsʼ
population in the same age group. In connection with these statistics,the number of girls admitted to
JTS is also decreasing.
2. Trends of the Type of Delinquency
In 2011,the number of girls cleared for penal code offences was 14,921,and 329 girls were committed
to JTS,accounting for 2.2% of the number of cleared girls.The composition of cleared girls bythe typeof delinquency is different from that of girls admitted to JTS. Larceny makes up the biggest percentage of delinquency in cleared girls, which is 73.2%. 13.9% were cleared for embezzlement, 5.2% for
assault, 1.6% for fraud and 0.9% for extortion.
On the other hand, for girls admitted to JTS as penal code offenders, the percentage of larceny
offenders is only 35.7%,and that of bodily injury and assault is also 35.7%,while the ratio of extortionis 10.1%. For all girls admitted to JTS,the percentage of larceny offenders is 21.6%,and that of bodily
injury and assault is the same. The percentage of Stimulant Drug Control Law violations as special
law offences is 20.7%, and the percentage of pre-delinquent girls is 10.6%. In addition, the ratio ofcleared girls for heinous offences ― including homicide, robbery, arson and rape ― in all penal code
offences of female juveniles is only 0.4%,or 55 girls,but the ratio of girls committed to JTS for heinous
offences for all girls admitted to JTS is 6.4%, or 21 girls. We should provide treatment for admitted
girls based on their above-mentioned characteristics. We further recognize that the number of girls
cleared for Stimulant Drug Control Law violations largely decreased to 27% in the last 10 years,andthe number of girls committed to JTS for the same delinquency also decreased to 38% in the same
period.
3. Age Trends
We should not overlook the effect of age or the developmental stage on juvenile delinquency.
According to the statistics in 2011, 22.8% of those admitted to JTS were 16 year olds (the largest
percentage of girls admitted),and 15 year olds were 20.1% of those admitted. In the last 10 years,thetrend of girlsʼages when newly committed to JTS did not show a specific tendency though there wassome fluctuation. This situation was different from the trend of the composition of age ofcleared girls.
That is,the number of 14 and 15 year olds has been increasing,while the number of 16 and 17 year olds
has been decreasing.
On the other hand, there are some characteristics in the relationship between age and the type ofdelinquency in girls admitted to JTS. These relationships can be seen by the difference of the type ofdelinquency in girls admitted to JTS under16 and over 17 years of age.
For those under 16 years of age, the largest percentage of girls were admitted to JTS for bodily
injury and assault, but for those over 17 years of age, the largest percentage were admitted for drug
offences.
As a result,the percent distribution of offences of delinquent girls admitted to JTS who are 17 yearsof age or over is almost equal to that of adult females,as the number of Stimulant Drug Control Law

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violations is the largest followed by larceny. In other words,the guidance for girls under 16 years ofage should focus on preventing violent delinquency;for girls over 17 years of age, we should makegreater efforts to educate on drug abuse.
Of course,the number of girls committing larceny is large in all age groups. Seventy-seven percent
of girls who committed larceny engaged in shoplifting and 18% of them stole vehicles,such as bicycles,
and so on. We should take such detailed modes of larceny committed by girls into consideration inorder to provide appropriate treatment for them.
4. Family Conditions of GirlsWe must not overlook the relationship between girls and their families,especially their mothers,inthe correctional education for girls. According to the result of the Comprehensive Study about Causesof Delinquency by the Cabinet Office in 2009,compared with the general group of girls,delinquent girls
share the characteristic of having poor family support because most of them come from single-parent
families without a father.
In addition, the study points out characteristics of delinquent girls which are different from thoseof delinquent boys. There are many female juveniles who have experiences where they were exposed
to violence from parents in their childhood;they do not want to be like their mothers (the same sex
parent), and they feel that their parents do not love them. In light of the reality in JTS, those results
are convincing.
It is the bad relationship between a girl and her mother that is regarded as the risk factor fordelinquency in the early part of youth (adolescence),at the time ofjunior high school and the earlydaysof high school,and such a bad relationship is also considered as a risk factor for mental disorders.On
the other hand, for male delinquent juveniles the negative image of parents is not so remarkable,andthat point shows the difference between boys and girls.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for newly admitted juveniles to JTS,
twice as many girls than boys were diagnosed with some mental problem, and overall 20% of girls
received such diagnoses in 2011.
Considering family relations and the negative factors coming from those relations, it is necessary
for delinquent girls to experience the support of adult females who are role models for the girls as apart of the correctional education for female juveniles in JTS. In other words, delinquent girls mustbe raised appropriately by ideal adult females. In Japan, we call such actions to “bring up again”or“grow up again”, and it is also important for girls to improve their relationships with their parents,
especially their mothers.
5. Discussion from the Viewpoint of Relapse Prevention
In Japan,various studies ― for example,the study by the Research and Training Institute,M OJ,in
the White Paper on Crime 2011 ― points out that one of the most serious causes of reoffending by
juveniles is the revival of associations with delinquent peers.
To prevent resuming acquaintances with undesirable friends, as mentioned above, it is importantfor juveniles, especially for girls, to find a place to call their own,not only in their homes but also intheir schools or places of work. Most delinquent juveniles drop out of school because they do not feel
comfortable there,which comes from a lack of scholastic abilities.Therefore,we should consider suchsituations for preventing commission of delinquency again.Of course,juveniles must acquire the skill
to construct appropriate human relationships in order to refrain from resuming associations withdelinquent peers.

II. M EASURES DEVISED TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS OF
DELINQUENT GIRLS IN JTS
A. Targets for Correctional Education
In the former part, the following points are clarified as issues for correctional education for141

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delinquent girls in JTS:
Focusing on violent behaviour of junior juveniles and drug abuse of senior juveniles
Being accepted and supported by adult females as the model for girls
Improving the relationship with the juvenileʼs parents, especially her mother
Recovering and promoting scholastic ability
Acquiring the skill to construct appropriate human relations
In the latter part,measures devised to deal with those targets will be discussed,based on the present
treatment in JTS for girls in Japan.
B. Treatment Focusing on the Violent Behaviour of Junior Juveniles and Drug Abuse of Senior
Juveniles
In JTS,correctional education for each juvenile is carried out based on an individualized treatment
plan, and problems of violent behaviour and drug abuse are mainly dealt with in the programme for
improving the juvenileʼ
s ways of thinking and attitude towards social life. The outline of the correctional education system is shown below.
When juveniles are admitted to JTS, instructors formulate an individualized treatment plan as acorrectional education plan for each juvenile based on (1).the results of classification in JCH,(2).thereport of the social environment investigation by the family court, and (3). information from thejuveniles themselves immediately after admission to JTS.
Instructors set goals of correctional education from the viewpoint of relapse prevention and decidecontents and methods of training for developing step-by-step instructions to achieve those goals.
Programmes dealing with violence of junior juveniles consist of both group guidance and individual
guidance. The programmes include contents to have juveniles understand their own impulsiveness,tohave them learn how to control their emotions,to have them consider the harmfulness ofviolent actions
from the viewpoint of victims, and so on.
On the other hand, the newly developed programme for drug-abusing juveniles started last year.
This programme is based on cognitive behavioural therapy,and it is different from the programme for
adults. The programme for juveniles emphasizes guidance for parents, and it is not placed as anindependent programme but as one of the core programmes within comprehensive treatment programmes in JTS.
Incidentally, when correctional education is carried out, we should not forget the girlsʼstrong
feelings that they are victims and the necessity of addressing these feelings. As a matter of course,
most girls committed to JTS have the status of victimizer. At the same time, however, a lot of girls
admitted to JTS are also victims;throughout their life histories, they have received ill-treatment or
have been exposed to violence,including sexual abuse or crime. As a result,such a sense ofvictimhood
based on their own experiences may obstruct their ability to think about their own victimizing
behaviour. Therefore, we must firstly make girls take care of their own feelings about their bitter
experiences. After that,while grasping girlsʼfeelings,and having girls consider their delinquency andvictimization at the same time, we can realize effective correctional education.
Considering those situations,the next section will discuss the importance of accepting and supporting girls sufficiently.
C. Being Accepted and Supported by Adult Females as the M odel for Girls
The foundation for the treatment system of JTS in Japan consists of the dormitory system and theindividual instructor system, and those systems make it possible for adult females to serve as rolemodels for the girls. The dormitory system means that juveniles belong to a dormitory in place oftheir142

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home, and the dormitory staff members are in charge of caring for the juveniles who live together inthe dormitory. Juveniles wake up in the dormitory,go to classrooms or vocational practice rooms in
JTS during the daytime, go back to the dormitory in the evening, and interact with each other until
bedtime around 9:00 p.m.
Generally,each dormitory accommodates 10 to 20 juveniles,and about 6 instructors are assigned toeach dormitory. They take turns being on duty in the dormitory and take care of juveniles 24 hours
a day, playing the role of parents. In the daytime, dormitory instructors also provide juveniles withacademic education,vocational training,physical education,and so on. Dormitory instructors are,soto speak, role models as parents and working members of society.
On the other hand,the role of an individual instructor for juveniles under his/her charge is to assessand understand the juvenilesʼproblems,to evaluate the level of attainment of the juvenilesʼrespective
targets, to manage the relationship between juveniles and parents, and to guide the educational or
vocational choices and the life planning after release from JTS. An individual instructor is, so to
speak,a coordinator or a counsellor for arranging contents and methods of correctional education,and
for advising the suitable future of each juvenile through grasping the juvenileʼs detailed information in
all fields. Juveniles may look upon instructors as their guardians.
It is necessary for instructors to establish close rapport with juveniles early after the admission,andto deepen understanding about juveniles as soon as possible. It is not easy for instructors,however,tobuild such relationships with girls because they have distrust of adults coupled with their sense of
victimhood, as mentioned above. Therefore, instructors should start by accepting girlsʼpresent
situations for constructing relationships, and after establishing rapport with the girls, instructors are
asked to develop guidance step by step with a supportive attitude towards the girls.
In order to play such roles, JTS staff members are required to have strong abilities to provide
guidance counselling for the girls. As a rule, JTS instructors for girls are employed from successful
candidates of the employment examination for professional staff in the M OJ. Most of them may havecompleted some university or graduate school courses related to human science, like psychology,sociology, pedagogy, social welfare, and so on. Because they should have such expertise, they arestronglyexpected to acquire various practical guidance skills continuouslythrough the systematic staff
training courses.
The problem we recognize is that there are poor measures of bridging the gap between the life in
JTS and life at home after the juvenilesʼrelease,especially when the adult role model is changed fromthe instructor to the juvenileʼs mother.Thus,it is important for girls to improve their relationships with
their mothers;this point will be addressed in the next section.
D. Improving the Relationship with the Juvenileʼs Parents, Especially M others
According to the statistics of the M OJ in 2011, the ratio of female juveniles whose only guardians
were their mothers was over 45% for girls newly admitted to JTS,and the ratio was larger than thatof male juveniles (39%). Incidentally, in 2002, the ratio of female juveniles newly admitted to JTS
whose only guardians were their mothers was about 34%, and that of male juveniles was about 27%.
Judging only from these numbers,it is clear that the parental situation of juveniles committed to JTS
has grown more and more severe over the last ten years. In addition,although there are not adequate
statistics, many instructors feel that the numbers of parents who have no proper advisor or who arementally unstable are increasing. In those cases, all that the parents can do is to maintain their own
lives, and they seem unable to take care of their children.
Originally, the JTS had no legal authority to directly advise the juvenilesʼparents, so instructors
had to deal with them as a part of correctional education for juveniles. Fortunately, in 2007, a newprovision was added to the Juvenile Training School Law, which permits instructors of JTS to guideor advise parents directly, and various measures have been started.
It is essential for girls,as stated before,to improve their relationships with their parents,especially
their mothers, for preventing delinquency. Accordingly, it is necessary for JTS to guide parents not

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passively but actively, and to support parents for constructing new relationships with juveniles early
after their admission to JTS, foreseeing their family life after release.
E. Recovering and Promoting Scholastic Ability
In Japan, compulsory education is carried out until children reach 15 years of age, i.e. graduating
junior high school. However, the percentage of students who go on to high school is over 90% at
present, and a variety of licenses or certifications beneficial for job hunting often require being over
18 years of age,and in Japan the age of adulthood is 20 years of age. Moreover,the scholastic ability
suitable for the age is also connected with finding a place and appropriate friends in school.
Considering such social situations, it is important to provide opportunities for academic study not
only for junior high school students committed to JTS but for all juveniles who are committed to JTS
after graduating from junior high school. JTS has a system in which full-time and part-time licensed
staff teach academic subjects, and they can tailor their individual teaching styles according to eachjuvenileʼs scholastic ability and desired life path after release. Since 2007,juveniles in JTS have beenable to take the certificate examination for students achieving the proficiency level of high school
graduates. This is of great significance because the opportunity of getting a national academic
qualification is offered to juveniles even in the correctional institution. That examination is effective
as it gives juveniles a practical target for academic learning.
On the other hand, in JTS, academic education has only been provided for junior high school
students, and not for graduates of junior high schools. In the future,however,we need to put a great
deal of effort into the academic education of graduates from junior high schools because the progressof basic scholastic ability may help juveniles obtain useful qualifications for job hunting,and to go tohigh school,vocational school,or university. In addition,the advancement of scholastic ability has thefunction of improving self-respect and increasing self-confidence. As a result, that function must be
useful to decrease the possibility of recommitment of delinquency, so the importance of academic
education cannot be overemphasized. Of course,we need to take into account that,for juveniles newly
admitted to JTS,the ratio of girls whose IQ scores are under 80 was 34% in 2011,which is higher than
the ratio of boys, 19%.
F. Acquiring the Skill to Construct Appropriate Human Relations
In JTS, measures to train skills for constructing appropriate human relations are social skills
training (SST)and role-playing. Juveniles learn how to refuse temptation from undesirable peers after
release, how to behave appropriately in the workplace, and how to communicate with other students
in school or with family, and so on. Because it is not sufficient for juveniles only to acquire the skillof constructing adequate human relations,juveniles should try to use and develop the skill for smoothing the interchange of feelings through experiences in daily life. Therefore, the task we must tackle
is to prepare circumstances where juveniles can learn adequate human relations through life in JTS.
In order to realize this task,it is important for us to always maintain the instructorsʼhigh ability for
managing dormitories and the institution.

III. CONCLUSION
Social conditions and public services for juveniles after release from JTS are not enough to prevent
their recommitment of delinquency, considering the present situation of Japanese society. Only thejuveniles and their parents are responsible for recommitting delinquency or not recommitting it.
Because Japan is now confronted with the sharp progress of aging, we are apprehensive that people
may fail to notice the importance of raising juveniles,since many are preoccupied with the problem of
aging. Enriching education for children means not only constructing the educational system,but it alsomeans recognizing once again the importance of all people involved in raising children in society.

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