NOTES

[WHITE PAPER ON CRIME]

I. Sources

1. Original White Paper on Crime

This White Paper is a summary and translated version of an annual publication of the Ministry of Justice, Japan, the “White Paper on Crime” 2017 (original text is in Japanese). Translations in this Paper are tentative and are to be considered solely as reference. For more statistics and further details, refer to the original Japanese version.

2. Data Sources

Statistics, Tables, Figures and other information presented in the White Paper on Crime are mainly provided by the respective bureaus/departments of the Ministry of Justice. Statistics and data are also obtained from various research or surveys conducted by relevant agencies, as well as the following official statistics.

Criminal Statistics of the National Police Agency
(Criminal Investigation Bureau, National Police Agency)
Annual Report of Statistics on Prosecution
(Judicial System Department, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Justice)
Annual Report of Judicial Statistics
(General Secretariat, the Supreme Court)
Annual Report of Statistics on Correction
(Judicial System Department, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Justice)
Annual Report of Statistics on Rehabilitation
(Judicial System Department, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Justice)

3. Others

(1) The statistical data up to May 14, 1972, do not include the data for Okinawa Prefecture.
(2) The names of ministries and agencies referred to in this White Paper are based on the changes made in January 2001 by the reorganization of ministries and agencies of the Government.

4. Coverage of statistical materials

Data in this Paper are based on statistical materials available by the end of July 2017. Unless otherwise indicated, the most recent annual figure is of the year 2016. Any corrections made on the data offered or publicized by relevant agencies will be reflected in subsequent editions of this Paper if it deemed necessary.

[OFFENSES AND TERMS]

I. Definitions of Offenses

Offense names in this White Paper are used in the following meanings or the definitions of the sources.

1. Penal Code Offenses

(1) “Penal Code Offenses” refers to those offenses prescribed by the Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1907) and violations of the “Act on Punishment of Physical Violence and Others (Act No. 60 of 1926),” the “Act on Prevention and Punishment of Robbery and Theft (Act No. 9 of 1930),” the “Act on Punishment of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (Act No. 68 of 1970)” and other Acts specified by the source of the data. Depending on the year of the figures referred to in a specific section of the White Paper, “Penal Code Offenses” may also include a whole or a part of offenses of “dangerous driving causing death or injury” referred to in below (2-(1)).
(2) Each category of offenses includes the following variations as provided in the Penal Code, unless specified otherwise:
- (i) attempt;
- (ii) preparation;
- (iii) inducement and accessoryship;
- (iv) offenses such as Robbery causing death or injury which aggravate the gravity of punishment of the base offense of Robbery;
- (v) offenses such as when the gravity of the punishment aggravated or mitigated for the offense based on the types of social activities, purposes, status of the offender or other elements as prescribed in the Penal Code; and
- (vi) offenses aggravated the punishment as prescribed in the Act on Prevention and Punishment of Robbery and Theft
(3) “Non-traffic Penal Code Offense” refers to Penal Code Offenses excluding negligent driving offenses causing death or injury as referred to below (2-(2)), unless specified otherwise.

2. Driving Offenses

(1) “Dangerous driving causing death or injury” refers to offenses provided in Article 208-2 of the Penal Code (violations of the Article since its insertion into the Code by the amendment (Act No. 138 of 2001)). From May 20, 2014 “Dangerous driving causing death or injury” also includes offenses provided in Article 2, Article 3, and Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 6 of the Act on Punishment of Acts to Cause Death or Injury by Driving (Act No. 86 of 2013. Hereinafter referred to as the “Act on Fatal/Injurious Driving”).
(2) “Negligent driving offenses causing death or injury” refers to offenses to cause death or injury through negligence in vehicle driving and which are punishable under Paragraph 2, Article 211 of the Penal Code (violations of the Article since its insertion into the Code by the amendment (Act No. 54 of 2007). From May 2014 “Negligent Driving Offenses causing death or injury” also includes offenses provided in Article 5 and Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 6 of the Act on Fatal/Injurious Driving.

3. Special Acts Offenses

(1) “Special Acts Offenses” refers to the violations of penal provisions of Acts and ordinances other than “Penal Code Offenses” and may exclude the whole or a part of offenses under the Act on Fatal/Injurious Driving depending on the sources.
(2) Depending on the year of the figures referred to in a specific section of the White Paper, “Special Acts Offenses” may exclude “Road traffic-related violations” or “Violations of traffic-related Acts” as follows:
- (i) “Road traffic-related violations” refers to the violations of Road Traffic Act (Act No. 105 of 1960) and Act on Assurance of Car Parking Spaces and Other Matters (Act No. 145 of 1962).
- (ii) “Violations of traffic-related Acts” refers to the Road traffic-related violations, and the violations of Road Transport Vehicle Act (Act No. 185 of 1951), Automobile Liability Security Act (Act No. 97 of 1955), Road Transportation Act (Act No. 183 of 1951), Road Act (Act No. 180 of 1952), National Highway Act (Act No. 79 of 1957), Parking Lot Act (Act No. 106 of 1957), Act on Special Measures concerning Prevention of Traffic Accident Caused by Large-Sized Automobiles Carrying Earth, Sand and Others (Act No. 131 of 1967), Act on Special Measures concerning Regulation of Taxi Services (Act No. 75 of 1970), Consigned Freight Forwarding Business Act (Act No. 82 of 1989), Motor Truck Transportation Business Act (Act No. 83 of 1989), Studded Tires Regulation Act (Act No. 55 of 1990), and Act on Regulation of Substitute Driving Service (Act No. 57 of 2001).

II. Definitions of terms

1. Police

(1) “Number of reported cases” refers to the number of cases the police came to know of the occurrence of through incident reports, complaints, accusation or other leads.
(2) “Crime rate” refers to the number of reported cases per 100,000 population.
(3) “Number of cleared cases” refers to the number of cases cleared by the police or other investigative authorities. The number is not limited to those cases referred to public prosecutors but also includes cases disposed by the police as trivial offenses and other dispositions.
(4) “Clearance rate” refers to the percentage of the number of cleared cases among the number of reported cases. Since “cleared cases” includes cases reported in previous year, the “clearance rate” may exceed 100%.
(5) “Persons cleared” refers to the number of persons cleared by the police or other investigative authorities.
(6) “Referred cases” refers to the number of cases referred to public prosecutors by the police.
(7) “Persons referred” refers to the number of persons referred to public prosecutors by the police.

2. Prosecution and Courts

(1) “Persons received by public prosecutors” refers to the number of suspects of cases directly detected or received by public prosecutors or referred from judicial police officers (including special judicial police officers of investigative agencies and internal inspectors of the National Tax Agency).
(2) “Prosecution rate” refers to the percentage of the number of persons prosecuted among the sum of the number of persons prosecuted and not prosecuted.
(3) “Court of first instance” refers to ordinary trial procedures at district courts and summary courts.
(4) “Conclusive disposition” refers to:
- (i) when the data is from the Annual Report of Prosecution, it refers to the disposition of a case by a prosecutor, excluding transfer of the case between Public Prosecutors Offices or disposition to suspend the investigation.
- (ii) Where the data is from the Annual Report of Judicial Statistics or the General Secretariat of the Supreme Court, it refers to the disposition of a case by a court, excluding transfer of the case to other courts (in Part 3, cases consolidated are not individually counted as disposed cases).
(5) “Fully Suspended execution rate” refers to the percentage of the number of persons granted full suspension of the execution of their sentences for imprisonment among the number of persons sentenced to imprisonment (with or without work) for a definite term.

3. Correction and Rehabilitation

(1) “New inmates” refers to inmates newly admitted to penal institutions each year for reasons such as execution of their finalized sentence.
(2) “Reimprisoned inmate” refers to a person who had been imprisoned before.
(3) “Parole rate” refers to the percentage of the number of inmates released on parole among the total number of inmates released on completion of the term of imprisonment (with or without partial suspension of execution) and inmates released on parole.
(4) “Probation rate” refers to the percentage of the number of persons granted (full or partial) suspension of execution of their sentence for imprisonment and placed under supervision for the probation period among the total number of persons granted (full or partial) suspension of execution of the sentence (with or without the supervision).

4. Juvenile Cases

(1) Juvenile
- (i) “Junior juvenile” refers to a person aged 14 or 15;
- (ii) “Intermediate juvenile” refers to a person aged 16 or 17; and
- (iii) “Senior juvenile” refers to a person aged 18 or 19.
(2) Juvenile delinquent
- (i) “Juvenile offender” refers to a juvenile who has committed a crime (aged 14 or older at the time of the crime);
- (ii) “Juvenile offender under 14” refers to a juvenile under 14 years of age who has violated laws and regulations of criminal nature; and
- (iii) “Pre-delinquent” refers to a juvenile who has a propensity not to submit to legitimate supervision by the custodian and in light of personality or environment of the juvenile, is likely to commit a crime or violate laws and regulations of criminal nature in the future.
(3) “Juveniles newly committed to juvenile training schools” refers to juveniles newly committed to juvenile training schools by a ruling to refer the juvenile to a juvenile training school.

5. Others

(1) “Rate per population” refers to the rate of persons in a specific group per 100,000 persons of the group population.
(2) “Female rate” refers to the rate of females to the total of males and females.
(3) “Elderly” or “elderly person” refers to a person aged 65 or older.
(4) “Visiting foreign nationals” refers to foreign nationals staying in Japan under a status other than permanent residency, special permanent residency, statuses related to the U.S. forces based in Japan, and when the status is unclear.
If the data source is the Criminal Statistics of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency, the term refers to foreign nationals staying in Japan under a status other than established residency (permanent residency, spouse or other dependency status of permanent residents and special permanent residency), statuses related to the U.S. forces based in Japan, and when the status is unclear.
(5) “Previous conviction” refers to previous conviction by a finalized judgement.
(6) “Treatment” refers to the treatment of those persons cleared for an offense in subsequent stages of prosecution, court, correction and/or rehabilitation.
(7) “Full suspension of execution of sentence” refers to the full suspension of execution of sentence provided in Article 25 of the Penal Code.
(8) “Partial suspension of execution of sentence” refers to the partial suspension of execution of sentence provided in Article 27-2 of the Penal Code and Article 3 of the Act on Suspension of Execution of Part of the Sentence Rendered to a Person Who Has Committed a Drug-related Crime (Act No.50 of 2013).

[PRESENTATION IN THE WHITE PAPER]

I. Numbering of figures and tables

The numbering of figures and tables is indicated in the order of the Part, Chapter, and Section. For example, Fig. 2-4-1-3 indicates the third figure in Section 1 of Chapter 4 of Part 2. This English version of the White Paper on Crime 2017 does not necessarily correspond to the numbering of figures and tables of the original Japanese White Paper on Crime 2017.

II. Presentation of values, etc.

1. Presentations of Tables:

(1) “-” zero in number or not applicable
(2) “0” number that does not reach one when rounded off
(3) “0.0” proportion that does not reach 0.1 when rounded off
(4) “...” data/statistical materials not available, or when the parameter is zero

2. Presentations of Figures:

(1) “0” zero in number or not applicable
(2) “0.0” proportion that does not reach 0.1 when rounded off

III. Calculation

The proportion and percentage, etc. are rounded off to the first decimal place. Therefore, the sum of the composition rates may not add up to 100.0.

The sum or difference of each proportion is calculated by first adding or subtracting values and then rounding off the resulting value. Thus, the value may not match the value calculated by first rounding off each value and then adding or subtracting the rounded off values.

For example, when calculating the difference between 12.76 and 7.53, first subtract 7.53 from 12.76 and then round off the value 5.23 to obtain the result of 5.2, rather than subtracting the rounded off value of 7.5 from the rounded off value of 12.8 (which yields 5.3.).

IV. Website

The whole content of this White Paper on Crime is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice of Japan.