일본의 2014년 개정 소년법에 관한 의의와 평가

Abstract

Flow of treatment for Japan of juvenile offenders is asfollows.　When the police or other authority clear a juvenileoffender aged 14–19, excluding cases with payment of non-penalfines for Road Traffic Act violations, the case is to be referredto a family court for offenses liable to fines or lighterpunishment, or to a public prosecutor for offenses for whichthey are liable to imprisonment or capital punishment as well asin general cases．As for juveniles of illegal behavior and pre-delinquents under14 years of age, priority is given to measures under the ChildWelfare Act. A family court may subject such juvenile to ahearing only when it receives a referral from a prefecturalgovernor or a director of a child guidance center. Police officersmay investigate cases when they discovered juveniles for whomthere is probable cause to suspect that they are of illegalbehavior judging from the objective situation. (1) Investigation by a family court and classification by ajuvenile classification home After receiving a case, the family court must investigate thecase and may order a family court probation officer to interviewthe juvenile, guardians and witnesses, and to conduct othernecessary investigations. The juvenile classification home detainsthe transferred juvenile and conducts classification on thepredisposition of the juvenile based on expertise in medicine,psychology, pedagogy, and sociology, etc. (2) Hearing by a family courtIndividual hearings at family courts are generally performed bya single judge. However, if it was decided by a collegiate courtbody that a collegiate court body should perform the hearing, acollegiate court body of judges then handles the hearing. Hearings at family courts must be closed to the public. However, in accordance to the Act for Partial Amendment to theJuvenile Act promulgated on June 18, 2008, attendance may bepermitted upon request from victims, etc. to attend the hearing,if deemed appropriate and not likely to disturb the healthydevelopment of the juvenile while taking into consideration thejuvenile's age and mental/physical condition, for cases related toany offense committed by a juvenile offender aged 14–19 or ajuvenile of illegal behavior aged 12 or older in which the victimwas killed or injured through the offender's intentional criminalact or negligence in the pursuit of social activities (in the caseof injury, limited to serious injuries endangering the life of thevictim). This act will be enforced on a day specified in aCabinet Order and within a period not exceeding six months ofthe date of promulgation but excluding any provisions (June 18,2008). The family court may also place the juvenile under tentative supervision, which is to prompt a family court probation officerto directly supervise the juvenile for a certain period of time, ifit deems such supervision necessary to determine appropriateprotective measures. If the family court determines that measures under the ChildWelfare Act are appropriate, it refers the case to the prefecturalgovernor or the director of a child guidance center. When thecase involves an offense punishable by death penalty or anoffense punishable by imprisonment with or without work, thefamily court refers the case to a public prosecutor if itdetermines that criminal disposition is appropriate. Also, as for cases in which victims were killed throughintentional criminal acts that were committed by a juvenile atthe age of 16 or over, the family court shall refer such a caseto a public prosecutor, except for cases where measures otherthan criminal dispositions are considered more appropriate inlight of the motives and type of offense, situations after theoffense, the personality, age, behavior and environment of thejuvenile and other conditions. In cases other than these, thefamily court has to make decision of protective measures suchas a disposition of probation, commitment to a support facilityfor development of self-sustaining capacity, or a children's home(limited for those under 18), or commitment to a juveniletraining school (limited for those aged generally 12 or over).　Inthis paper, I discussed the evaluation and significance of 2014revised the Juvenile Law in Japan.