Number of crimes hits yet another postwar low in 2017

January 18, 2018

Tokyo- The number of criminal offenses recognized by police in Japan in 2017 fell by 81,009, or 8.1 percent, from the preceding year to 915,111, hitting a postwar low for the third straight year, the National Police Agency said in a preliminary report Thursday.

The annual tally fell for the 15th year in a row after peaking at some 2.85 million in 2002. The 2017 figure was down by more than two-thirds from the record-high level.

An NPA official said that the decline is believed to have reflected crime prevention efforts both by the public and private sectors, improved security measures at homes and for vehicles, and increased installation of security cameras, including event data recorders.

Last year, the number of criminal cases fell in all of the nation's 47 prefectures, with Yamagata marking the sharpest drop of 18.8 pct, followed by Iwate, 18.7 pct, and Akita, 17.6 pct. Eleven prefectures, including the three in the Tohoku northeastern region, posted declines of more than 10 percent.

By type, the number of thefts, accounting for over 70 percent of the total, fell by 67,607, or 9.3 percent, to 655,541, and that of robberies dropped by 480, or 20.6 percent, to 1,852.

The figures for thefts and robberies were down about 33 percent and 44 percent, respectively, from the levels in 2013.

Meanwhile, the number of abductions was up by 11, or 4.8 percent, at 239, apparently including cases in which children were snatched by offenders after they met through social networking services. Last year, 50 elementary school children, 40 junior high school students and 42 high school students fell victim to such crimes.

The number of fraud cases rose by 1,585, or 3.9 percent, to 42,575. Of them, billing fraud cases totaled 5,756, up some 3.8-fold from 2013.

Police took actions against offenders in 327,105 criminal cases in 2017, down by 9,961, or 3.0 percent, from the preceding year.

The figure accounted for 35.7 percent of the total cases for last year, up 1.9 percentage points from 2016. The proportion reached 80.3 percent for heinous crimes, including murder, robbery, arson and kidnapping, topping the 80 pct line for the first time since 1998. Jiji Press