| Previous Next Index Image Index Year Selection | |
|
|
1 Outline of research As described at the beginning of the previous section, the tendency to repeat theft and Stimulants Control Act violations is rather high, with many of those who repeated these offenses having been granted suspension of execution of the sentence at the first trial but then being sentenced to imprisonment without suspension of execution of the sentence at the second trial. In the previous section, persons who had been granted suspension of execution of the sentence for the first time for these offenses were selected as research subjects and the factors involved in their repeat offenses, etc. at the time of the first judgment were then analyzed.Examining persons who were imprisoned for these offenses revealed that the reimprisonment rate within five years of second-time inmates (refers to those admitted to a penal institution twice; hereinafter the same in this section) was remarkably high when compared with first-time inmates (refers to those admitted to a penal institution once; hereinafter the same in this section), as more than half second-time inmates were then reimprisoned within five years (See Fig. 7-2-3-7). Because of this situation and the fact that there still remains scope for the reformation/rehabilitation of a relatively large number of first-time inmates, it is important in criminal policy to take effective measures to prevent repeat offenses in order to stop first-time inmates for these offenses from being reimprisoned. In order to analyze the problems of those who had been imprisoned, first-time and second-time inmates for theft and Stimulants Control Act violations were selected as research subjects in a special study on their motives, causes, backgrounds, living situations, and attitudes, etc. Subjects for this study were selected from inmates who met the following two conditions: [1] those imprisoned in 52 penal institutions nationwide between April 20 and May 19, 2009 for theft or Stimulants Control Act violations (limited to cases that include self-use of stimulants), and [2] first-time inmates with previous convictions for the same type of offense and second-time inmates whose first imprisonment was for the same type of offense. From these subjects 600 persons (200 first-time male inmates, 200 second-time male inmates, 100 first-time female inmates, 100 second-time female inmates) each for theft and Stimulants Control Act violations, or a total of 1,200 persons, were asked to cooperate voluntarily. The research was conducted by analyzing inmates’ answers for the study questionnaires and information obtained from the inmates’ admission questionnaires. The breakdown of respondents (research subjects) is as follows. Theft: 510 persons (358 males, 152 females) First-time inmates: 271 persons (180 males, 91 females) Second-time inmates: 239 persons (178 males, 61 females) Stimulants Control Act violations: 540 persons (355 males, 185 females) First-time inmates: 274 persons (180 males, 94 females) Second-time inmates: 266 persons (175 males, 91 females) |