Crimes in Japan on course to rewrite annual postwar low

July 18, 2019

Tokyo--The number of criminal offenses in Japan is on course to rewrite its annual postwar low scored last year, National Police Agency data showed Thursday.


The number of criminal offenses reported to police nationwide in January-June fell 8.7 pct from a year before to 363,846, according to the data.


"The decline seems to reflect the spread of surveillance cameras and the effects of public-private efforts to prevent crimes," an agency official said.


The number of thefts, which accounted for more than 70 pct of the total, fell 9.1 pct, and that of fraud cases decreased 14.8 pct.


Among serious crimes, the numbers of robbery and arson dropped, but the numbers of murder and forcible intercourse increased.


Of the country's 47 prefectures, 44 saw criminal offenses decrease. The numbers rose in Fukui, Kagawa and Tokushima.


The pace of decrease was fastest in Aomori at 18.5 pct, followed by Kagoshima and Yamagata, both at 18.2 pct.


Police took action on 141,328 cases, down 7.5 pct. The figure accounted for 38.8 pct of the reported offenses, up 0.5 percentage point.


The proportion was highest in Saga Prefecture at 68.9 pct and lowest in Osaka Prefecture at 25.6 pct.


The number of criminal offenders fell 7.4 pct to 92,877. Of them, those aged 14 to 19 accounted for 9,397, down 17.4 pct.


Surveillance camera and other images helped identify suspects in 9.9 pct of all cases police dealt with, up 1.1 points, according to the data. Jiji Press