JAPAN TODAY



 

Suspected abuse cases involving a record 115,762 minors were reported to child welfare centers across Japan in 2022, up 7,703 on the previous year's high, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

Police also uncovered a record 2,181 child abuse cases last year, up from the previous record of 2,174 in 2021, the police agency's statistics showed.

The police report, which defines minors as children aged below 18, showed that 2,214 children were recorded as victims of abuse, with 37 deaths, of which 24 were in family murder-suicide incidents or incidents taking place shortly after birth.

About 80 percent of the cases police investigated involved physical abuse. Of suspected cases reported to police, some 70 percent involved emotional abuse, of which around half were domestic violence situations against family members carried out in front of children.

The number of domestic violence consultations also rose 1,454 to 84,496.
Police were approached over 1,728 cases of revenge porn in 2022, continuing an upward trend with the figure now 2.6 times higher than the 2018 total.

About half of those behind the acts were romantic partners, but friends and acquaintances that victims only knew online represented some 20 percent of cases.

Prohibitory injunctions issued in accordance with stalking controls reached a record 1,744 cases in the data, up 73 on 2021, despite overall consultations on stalking actually falling by 597 cases to 19,131.

However, penal code or other legal offenses uncovered by the police were down at 8,535, while violations related to domestic violence including individuals contravening prevention laws such as by breaking restraining orders also declined from the year prior to 46.


© KYODO