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 White paper on crime 2002 Part 2/Chap.3/Sec.3/5 

5 Suspended sentence

(1) Suspended sentence

  The suspended execution rate for defendants sentenced to imprisonment with labor, which had remained within the range of 50% or over but below 60% until 1993, has been within the range of 60% or over but below 70% since 1994. The suspended execution rate for those sentenced to imprisonment without labor has been remaining 90% or over every year, higher than that for imprisonment with labor.
  When giving the first suspended sentence, courts decide, at their discretion, whether or not offenders should be placed under probationary supervision at the same time. In the case of giving repeat suspended sentence to offenders who have committed a further offense, however, probationary supervision is mandatory. In 2001, 48,912 offenders (99.1% of all offenders given final convictions with suspended sentences) were given first suspended sentence, of which 5,009 (10.2%) were placed under probationary supervision. 420 offenders (0.9%) were given repeat suspended sentence (Source: Annual Report of Statistics on Prosecution).

(2) Revocation of suspended sentence

   Table 2-3-3-4 shows the number of offenders whose suspended sentence was revoked over the last 5 years, by reason for revocation.
  In 2001, the number of offenders whose suspended sentence was revoked increased by 240 (3.8%) from the previous year to 6,541, and an overwhelming majority of them, 94.2%, were revoked on the reason that they committed a repeat offense and were sentenced to imprisonment without labor or heavier punishment.
  The number of offenders who were given final convictions with suspended sentence in a given year and the number of offenders whose suspended sentences were revoked in that year target different groups of offenders, and therefore the rate of the latter number to the former cannot strictly be called the revoked suspension rate. However, calculated for the purpose of ascertaining general trends, the revoked suspension rate was 13.3% and the revoked suspension rate due to repeat offenses by those who received suspended sentence with probationary supervision was 27.7%. By type of offense (limited to those for which both the total number of offenders given final convictions with suspended sentence and the number of offenders given final convictions with suspended sentence with probationary supervision were at least 100), the revoked suspension rate was high for Stimulant Drug Control Law violations with 25.4%, followed by larceny with 22.3%, while the revoked suspension rate due to repeat offense committed by those who received suspended sentence with probationary supervision was high for Stimulant Drug Control Law violations with 37.5%, followed by larceny with 33.0% (Source: Annual Report of Statistics on Prosecution). In calculating the number of offenders whose suspended sentence was revoked, an offender whose suspended sentences of 2 or more punishments were revoked in a single trial at the same time is counted as one. As for the revoked suspension rate due to repeat offenses by those who received suspended sentence with probationary supervision, the calculation only includes offenders whose suspended sentence was revoked due to repeat offenses being sentenced to imprisonment without labor or heavier punishment, excluding offenders whose suspended sentence was revoked due to repeat offenses being sentenced to fines.

Table 2-3-3-4 Number of offenders whose suspended sentence was revoked, by reason for revocation (1997-2001)