Longitudinal and Criminal Career Research in Japan

Abstract

Longitudinal research on the development of criminal careers has rarely been carried out in Japan. This article reviews the advantages and problems of longitudinal research, major international longitudinal surveys, and key conclusions about criminal careers. It then discusses results obtained in a study of the recidivism of over 700 male Japanese sex offenders against young children. It was estimated that 24 % of these men would be rearrested for sex offenses within 5 years after release. Older offenders and those on parole were less likely to offend. The article then discusses the criminal careers of two large samples totalling 1,700,000 Japanese offenders. The crime rate (the age-crime curve) was consistently higher for the 1935 birth cohort than for the 1950 birth cohort. The article concludes by reviewing new longitudinal research that is tracking the criminal careers of ex-inmates of Japanese training schools.