일본의 2014년 개정 소년법에 관한 의의와 평가

• Published in: 소년보호연구 Vol. 28; pp. 65 - 102
• Main Authors: 박상열, Park Sang-yull
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 한국소년정책학회 28.02.2015
• Subjects: Family Court; Juvenile Delinquency; Revised Juvenile Law in Japan; The Committee on the Rights of the Child; UN아동권리위원회; 가정법원; 법학; 소년비행; 일본개정소년법
• ISSN: 1598-8163; 2734-0414

Flow of treatment for Japan of juvenile offenders is as follows.　When the police or other authority clear a juvenile offender aged 14-19, excluding cases with payment of non-penal fines for Road Traffic Act violations, the case is to be referred to a family court for offenses liable to fines or lighter punishment, or to a public prosecutor for offenses for which they are liable to imprisonment or capital punishment as well as in general cases. As for juveniles of illegal behavior and pre-delinquents under 14 years of age, priority is given to measures under the Child Welfare Act. A family court may subject such juvenile to a hearing only when it receives a referral from a prefectural governor or a director of a child guidance center. Police officers may investigate cases when they discovered juveniles for whom there is probable cause to suspect that they are of illegal behavior judging from the objective situation. (1) Investigation by a family court and classification by a juvenile classification home After receiving a case, the family court must investigate the case and may order a family court probation officer to interview the juvenile, guardians and witnesses, and to conduct other necessary investigations. The juvenile classification home detains the transferred juvenile and conducts classification on the predisposition of the juvenile based on expertise in medicine, psychology, pedagogy, and sociology, etc. (2) Hearing by a family court Individual hearings at family courts are generally performed by a single judge. However, if it was decided by a collegiate court body that a collegiate court body should perform the hearing, a collegiate 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 the Juvenile Act promulgated on June 18, 2008, attendance may be permitted upon request from victims, etc. to attend the hearing, if deemed appropriate and not likely to disturb the healthy development of the juvenile while taking into consideration the juvenile's age and mental/physical condition, for cases related to any offense committed by a juvenile offender aged 14-19 or a juvenile of illegal behavior aged 12 or older in which the victim was killed or injured through the offender's intentional criminal act or negligence in the pursuit of social activities (in the case of injury, limited to serious injuries endangering the life of the victim). This act will be enforced on a day specified in a Cabinet Order and within a period not exceeding six months of the 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 officer to directly supervise the juvenile for a certain period of time, if it deems such supervision necessary to determine appropriate protective measures. If the family court determines that measures under the Child Welfare Act are appropriate, it refers the case to the prefectural governor or the director of a child guidance center. When the case involves an offense punishable by death penalty or an offense punishable by imprisonment with or without work, the family court refers the case to a public prosecutor if it determines that criminal disposition is appropriate. Also, as for cases in which victims were killed through intentional criminal acts that were committed by a juvenile at the age of 16 or over, the family court shall refer such a case to a public prosecutor, except for cases where measures other than criminal dispositions are considered more appropriate in light of the motives and type of offense, situations after the offense, the personality, age, behavior and environment of the juvenile and other conditions. In cases other than these, the family court has to make decision of protective measures such as a disposition of probation, commitment to a support facility for development of self-sustaining capacity, or a children's home (limited for those under 18), or commitment to a juvenile training school (limited for those aged generally 12 or over).　In this paper, I discussed the evaluation and significance of 2014 revised the Juvenile Law in Japan.