White paper on crime 2012 Part3/Chapter2/Section1/3
In principle a juvenile placed under probation receives instruction, supervision, guidance, and assistance necessary for their reformation/rehabilitation from a probation officer or volunteer probation officer until turning 20 or being discharged from probation (See Section 2, Chapter 5, Part 2 for an overview of the probation process).
If a family court decides to subject a juvenile under probation, it can recommend either short-term probation or short-term probation for traffic offenses as being the most appropriate for those who do not have strong delinquent tendencies, etc. and thus can be expected to be reformed/rehabilitated if placed under probation for a short-term period. Probation is then carried out based on that recommendation.
Juveniles for whom the decision was made to commit them to children’s self-reliance support facilities/foster homes are accommodated in these facilities/homes which are open facilities for aid-requiring children that were established in accordance with the Child Welfare Act.
A juvenile training school mainly accommodates juveniles decided to be committed to a juvenile training school by a family court and provides them with correctional education. As of April 1, 2012, there were 52 juvenile training schools (including one branch school) nationwide.
The term of confinement in a juvenile training school can, in principle, last until the juvenile reaches 20 years of age, but it can last after then for a period not exceeding one year from the decision of the commitment. A juvenile in a juvenile training school typically gets discharged upon completion of his/her term of confinement but a family court can decide to extend his/her confinement if requested to do so by the director of the juvenile training school, with a term of extension that does not exceed the date on which the juvenile will turn 23 in certain situations. In addition, a family court can also decide to continue to confine a juvenile in a medical juvenile training school if requested to do so by the director of the juvenile training school, with a term of extension that does not exceed the date on which the juvenile will turn 26.
Conversely, however, a juvenile in a juvenile training school can also be discharged on parole before completion of his/her term of confinement by a decision made by the Regional Parole Board, and in which case the juvenile is placed under parole supervision after the discharge until his/her term of confinement is complete or until his/her discharge is decided by the Board.