White paper on crime 2011 Part3/Chapter1/Section1/3
In principle a juvenile placed under probation receives guidance, supervision, and the support necessary for their reformation/rehabilitation from a probation officer or volunteer probation officer until turning 20 or being discharged from probation (See the beginning of Section 2, Chapter 5, Part 2 for an overview of the probation process).
If a family court does decide to place 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 have not developed particularly strong delinquent tendencies 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 who have received a decision of commitment to a children’s self-reliance support facility/foster home are accommodated in one of these open facilities for accommodating aid-requiring children that were established as part of the Child Welfare Act.
Juvenile training schools mainly accommodate juveniles who have received a disposition of commitment to a juvenile training school by a family court and thereby provide them with correctional education. As of April 1, 2011, 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 to commit them to a juvenile training school. Juveniles in juvenile training schools typically get discharged upon completion of their term of confinement but a family court can, however, decide in certain situations to extend their confinement if requested to do so by the director of the pertinent juvenile training school for a term that does not exceed the date on which the juvenile will turn 23. In addition, a family court can also decide to continue to confine the juvenile at a medical juvenile training school if requested to do so by the director of the juvenile training school for a term that does not exceed the date on which the juvenile will turn 26.
However, juveniles in juvenile training schools can also be discharged on parole before completion of their term of the confinement by a decision made by the Regional Parole Board, and in which case the juvenile is placed under parole supervision after being discharged until their term of confinement is complete or until their discharge is decided upon by the Board.