1 The amended Juvenile Act

In May 2021, the Act Partially Amending the Juvenile Act and Related Acts (Act No. 47 of 2021) was enacted in order to take necessary measures in light of changes in the social situation, such as lowering the legal age of adulthood from 20 to 18 years, and the crimes committed by juveniles. The new Act came into effect on April 1, 2022. The Juvenile Act was amended to designate a juvenile aged 18 to 19 as a Specified Juvenile, and special provisions were established for juvenile protection cases for Specified Juveniles, including [1] a family court, in principle, shall refer a case to a public prosecutor, where a juvenile aged 18 or older at the time of the offense committed a crime punishable with the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment with or without work for a minimum term of one year or more; [2] a family court, when it does not refer a case to a public prosecutor, shall subject a Specified Juvenile to rehabilitation measures of 6 or 24 months of probation or commitment to a juvenile training school, when it is found necessary, and [3] a family court shall not subject a Specified Juvenile to rehabilitation measures against pre-delinquency.