NCJ Number
89358
Journal
Revue penitentiaire et de droit penal Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-September 1982) Pages: 285-293
Date Published
1982
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The Japanese penal code dates from 1908 and has remained in effect throughout the significant social changes of the century. Its principal penalty is incarceration with forced labor, and it does not specifically provide for early release, probation, parole, or other community-based alternatives to institutionalization.
Abstract
To some extent, subsequent amendments have enabled such alternatives as pretrial diversion, minimum-security labor camps, supervised liberty, and furlough programs for less serious offenders and juveniles. The basic code, however, retains obstacles to instituting parole or more liberal correctional settings for serious offenders currently under secure custodial regimes. Supervised liberty for serious offenders from closed institutions is possible only upon proof of repentance and the completion of a considerable part of the original sentence (e.g., 10 years for those sentenced to life). As a consequence, the Japanese probation/parole service is underdeveloped and little used, while wide-ranging discretional practices exist at the early stages of criminal processing. A 1982 legislative reform proposes that all correctional programming be decreed specifically for rehabilitative ends under humane conditions tailored to the treatment and educational needs of individual inmates, including access to programs outside the institutional setting. The proposal fails to consider the lack of available community-based programming for inmates of remotely located secure facilities as well as the potential public danger posed by serious offenders with partial liberty in the community.