This chapter provides an overview of recent trends in juvenile delinquency and analyzes its characteristics.
  In Japan, juvenile delinquency as specified in the Juvenile Law comprises the following three types of act or conduct: (1) criminal acts by juveniles aged 14 (the minimum age for criminal liability) or over but less than 20, (2) illegal acts by juveniles under 14 years of age, and (3) pre-delinquency by juveniles under 20 years of age. "Pre-delinquency" refers to conduct that is deemed likely to result in future offenses or violations of criminal laws and regulations, in light of personal character or environment due to any of the following grounds:(i)bias toward non-obedience to the lawful supervision of guardians, (ii)absence from family without justifiable reasons, (iii)contact with persons with criminal or immoral tendencies or frequentation of disreputable places, or(iv)bias toward acts that are detrimental to the morality of themselves or others. The law provides that three types of delinquent juveniles should be subjected to family court hearings:
juvenile offenders, juveniles of illegal behavior and pre-delinquents.
  For the purpose of this chapter, persons under 20 years of age are treated as juveniles even when reference is made to trends in juvenile delinquency before the enforcement of the current Juvenile Law. Unless specified otherwise, the clearance and guidance of juvenile offenders and juveniles of illegal behavior are collectively referred to as"clearance", to distinguish them from the"guidance"of pre-delinquents.