The recent increase in the number of reported cases of penal code offenses has been mainly due to the increase of reported cases of larceny and professional negligence in traffic accidents. In this section, however, we will examine the trends of penal code offenses excluding larceny and professional negligence in traffic accidents (hereinafter called "general penal code offenses excluding larceny" in this section), both of which will be addressed in Part IV.
(1)Trends in the number of reported cases, the number of cleared cases and the number of persons cleared by type of offense
  Fig. I-3 shows the trends in the number of reported cases, the number of cleared cases and the number of persons cleared in the last decade in the order of heinous offenses (homicide, robbery), violent offenses (bodily injury, assault, intimidation, extortion), property offenses (fraud, embezzlement excluding misappropriation of lost property, misappropriation of lost property, illegal transaction of stolen property), sexual offenses (rape, indecent assault, public indecency, distribution of obscene literature), and other penal code offenses (arson, abduction/kidnapping, forgery of various documents/counterfeiting of securities, gambling/lottery violation acts, destruction of objects, breaking & entering) (see Appendix I-2 ).

Fig. I-3 Trends in number of reported cases, number of cleared cases, and number of persons cleared by type of offense (1991-2000)

(2)Trends by type of offense
  In this section, we will examine the general overview of reported cases of penal code offenses. Trends and characteristics of increase and decrease in the number of reported cases of general penal code offenses except for larceny will be described in detail in Part IV. a. Heinous offenses
  The number of reported cases, the number of persons cleared and the number of cleared cases of homicide took an upward turn in 2000 after showing a decrease in the previous year. In 2000, the numbers of reported cases (an increase of 126 cases or 10.0% from the previous year) and persons cleared (an increase of 103 persons or 7.8% from the previous year) recorded their highest levels in the past 10 years. In addition, the number of cleared cases also increased by 103 cases (8.4%).
  The number of reported cases of robbery continued to increase significantly (an increase of 936 cases or 22.1% from the previous year) while the increasing trend in the number of cleared cases (an increase of 128 cases or 4.6% from the previous year) and the number of persons cleared (an increase of 35 persons or 0.9% from the previous year) slowed down.
b. Violent offenses
  In 2000, the number of reported cases of violent offenses showed increase over the previous year:an increase of 9,951 cases for bodily injury (49.2%); an increase of 5,433 cases for assaults (69.7%); an increase of 1,052 cases for intimidation (105.7%); and an increase of 4,158 cases for extortion (28.2%). The number of reported cases of these offenses has experienced the most significant increase in the last 10 years.
  Accordingly, the numbers of cleared cases and persons cleared for the above offenses, all of which had been on the decline until the previous year, drastically increased in 2000 over the previous year:an increase of 6,087 cases (38.9%) and 7,407 persons (33.7%) for bodily injury; an increase of 2,444 cases (51.4%) and 2,614 persons (47.5%) for assaults; an increase of 655 cases (75.4%) and 562 persons (62.7%) for intimidation;and an increase of 1,534 cases (21.3%) and 1,920 persons (20.6%) for extortion.
c. Property offenses
  The number of reported cases of fraud increased by 953 (2.2%) over the previous year while the number of cleared cases decreased by 3,085 (8.0%). Conversely, the number of persons cleared increased by 314 (3.8%).
  As for embezzlement (excluding misappropriation of lost property), the numbers of reported cases, cleared cases and persons cleared had been on a decreasing trend for a long time. In 2000, however, all three figures turned upward from the previous year:an increase of 324 cases (26.4%) for the number of reported cases;an increase of 117 cases (10.5%) for the number of cleared cases;and an increase of 212 persons (27.9%) for the number of persons cleared.
  The numbers of reported cases, etc. of misappropriation of lost property showed a significant drop after the increasing trend over the last two years. From the previous year, the number of reported cases decreased by 11,785 (17.4%), the number of cleared cases by 12,112 (18.0%); and the number of persons cleared by 12,915 (18.4%).
  With respect to illegal transaction of stolen property, the increasing trend in the numbers of reported cases, etc. over the last three years was further accelerated, resulting in the increase in the number of reported cases by 229 (15.2%), the number of cleared cases by 230 (15.4%) and the number of persons cleared by 202 (13.6%).
d. Sexual offenses
  The number of reported cases increased by 403 (21.7%) for rape, 2,066 (38.6%) for indecent assault, and 342 (28.2%) for public indecency. Accordingly, the numbers of cleared cases and persons cleared also increased by 171 cases (12.5%) and 94 persons (6.8%) for rape, 214 cases (6.3%) and 360 persons (18.7%) for indecent assaults, and 214 cases (18.4%) and 77 persons (7.0%) for public indecency.
  In contrast, there was a decrease with respect to distribution of obscene literature in the number of reported cases by 40 (6.7%), the number of cleared cases by 44 (7.4%), and the number of persons cleared by 13 (1.7%).
e. Other penal code offenses
  There has been a repeated trend of increase and decrease in the numbers of cleared cases, etc. with respect to arson and abduction/kidnapping. In 2000, the numbers of reported cases, cleared cases and persons cleared for arson were, up 15 cases (0.9%), down 86 cases (5.9%), and up 39 persons (5.2%) from the previous year, while those of abduction/kidnapping were up 53 cases (21.3%), up 28 cases (11.5%) and up 16 persons (9.8%) from the previous year.
  The number of reported cases for forgery of various documents/counterfeiting of securities and gambling/lottery violation acts has been on the decline for a long time. The numbers of reported cases, cleared cases and persons cleared for forgery of various documents/counterfeiting of securities were down 694 cases (8.4%), down 916 cases (11.2%), and up 218 persons (16.2%) from last year while those for gambling/lottery violation acts decreased from last year by 15 cases (5.1%), 13 cases (4.5%) and 422 persons (18.1%).
  With respect to destruction of objects and breaking&entering, the numbers of cleared cases and persons cleared did not show significant increases despite a sharp rise in the number of reported cases. In 2000, the number of reported cases, the number of cleared cases and the number of persons cleared increased over the previous year by 34,391 cases (64.2%), 1,406 cases (28.4%) and 1,201 persons (42.0%) for destruction of objects and by 6,427 cases (44.2%), 724 cases (17.7%) and 577 persons (20.1%) for breaking & entering.