3 Treatment of offenders

Urgent measures to prevent repeat offenses from occurring were announced by the Ministry of Justice in February 2005. A variety of new approaches in the areas of correction and rehabilitation have therefore been developed, such as sharing information with the police on the release of inmates or on probationers/parolees whose whereabouts are unknown, more effective treatment for sexual offenders, and various measures to facilitate Comprehensive Employment Support Measures for Released Inmates, etc.

With regard to the correction of adult offenders, in response to recommendations made by the Correctional Administration Reform Council in December 2003, the Inmates Treatment Act was enforced in May 2006, and then amended in June 2007 (the title of the said act was altered to the Penal Detention Facilities Act), which resulted in abolition of the Prison Act. The Penal Detention Facilities Act clarified the rights and obligations of inmates and defined the basic philosophy with the treatment of inmates to be their rehabilitation and smooth reintegration back into society. In addition, various other new treatment systems have also been introduced. The said Act has resulted in concrete measures that improve/enhance the treatment of inmates currently being promoted even more strongly (See Chapter 4, Part 2).

Recommendations made by the Advisory Council on Reform of the Rehabilitation System in June 2006 provided a direction for the overall reform of the rehabilitation system. In accordance with those recommendations, therefore, efforts have been made to improve the treatment involved in probation/parole supervision, including enforcement of the Offenders Rehabilitation Act, which reorganized and integrated the Offenders Prevention and Rehabilitation Act and the Act for Probationary Supervision of Persons under Suspension of Execution of Sentence in June 2008 and thus better arranged conditions for probation/parole supervision (See Chapter 5, Part 2).