Child Abuse and Parental Power in Japan

Abstract

We reviewed four nationwide studies on child abuse in Japan done in 1973, 1983, 1984, and 1988. It is difficult to draw any conclusion about the trend of child abuse from these studies because the definitions of abuse were not the same. However, we can find no evidence to show an increase of child abuse in Japan, although it is not difficult to imagine that hidden cases overwhelmingly outnumber the reported cases. We estimate the provisional incidence at 45.8 per 1000 children in Japan. Regarding child abuse cases, in general, legal intervention is believed to be ineffective in Japan, although its effectiveness is indicated in the findings of the research done by the Directors of the Child Guidance Centers in 1988. We believe that the Child Guidance Centers should not be reluctant to use judicial power to protect the human rights of a child.