Citation

Aotake M. Osaka Univ. Law Rev. 2020; 67: 39-46.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Osaka University Graduate School of Law and Politics)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

An ancient Japanese proverb, ʻhô wa katei ni irazuʼ, stated that the law should not interfere in family affairs1). Therefore, in Japan, legal measures to prevent child abuse were quite limited in the past. However, in the 1980s, when serious child abuse cases were reported in the media, the Japanese public demanded greater respect for--and better protection of--their children2). The government responded with the Child Abuse Prevention Act, introduced in 2000. This report will outline and analyse the legal measures to prevent child abuse to offer insights that could improve similar laws in the future.

In 2017, the consultation number of child abuse was 133,778. This number had increased 11.5 times since 1999, before the enforcement of the Child Abuse Prevention Act.

According to the Child Abuse Prevention Act, there are four types of child abuse: physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. In 2017, the most commonly reported case of abuse was emotional at 54.0%; followed by physical abuse (24. 8%), neglect (20.0%), and sexual abuse (1.2%)...

Language: en