As the diffusion rate of cars per household has surpassed 80% and road networks including express highways and other transportation networks have been developed, people in Japan travel on business or for leisure across wider areas at higher speed. Against such background, some persons continuously or repeatedly commit heinous offenses while traveling in cars across various areas.
  Among the cases targeted in this survey, 17 cases were committed across multiple prefectures and 21 cases were committed by perpetrators traveling in cars. This indicates that heinous offenses are expanding from areas where perpetrators reside to other areas.

  As more people go abroad each year, some serious offenses are prepared overseas. In some of the cases targeted in this survey, the perpetrators made preparations for robbery such as having test fires or pressed the car used for committing the offense and transporting the corpse and exported it as metal scraps in order to conceal the offense. As some countries have circumstances of crime and firearm regulations that are different from those of Japan, more offenses will be prepared or committed overseas. In this respect, attention is required in the future.