Justice Ministry Report Documents Japanese Crime

TOKYO — Repeat offenders commit almost two-thirds of criminal offenses in Japan , according to a report by the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry’s report on crime, which contained statistics on recidivism for the first time in almost 20 years, reported that while repeat offenders constituted about 30 percent of all individuals convicted of an offense, they were responsible for about 60 percent of offenses committed from 1948 to 2006.

The report found that more than 40 percent of individuals convicted of an offense between the ages of 20 and 24 years committed other crimes later in life. The recidivism rate among those first convicted in their 20s is significantly higher than the rates among other age groups, according to the report.

The report, which was conducted by the Justice Ministry’s Research and Training Institute, surveyed approximately 1 million convicts and examined almost 1.7 million offenses committed between 1948 and 2006.

In 2006, the number of criminal offenses reported to authorities declined for the fourth straight year, down 8 percent to approximately 2.9 million, according to the report.