The number of women in prison in Japan is 2.4 times the number from 20 years ago, the Justice Ministry said its White Paper on Crime for 2013.
Of the current prison population of 24,700 in Japan, 2,225 are women, more than double the figure for 1993, the white paper said, making it the highest percentage ever, Sankei Shimbun reported. The two main crimes for which women were imprisoned were theft and drug-taking, the white paper said.
According to the paper, the inmate population of the nine women's prisons in Japan has increased far beyond the maximum capacity, continuing to add to the overall prison overpopulation issue.
© Japan Today
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SimondB
For a country with a population of around 125 million that is overall quite low. I compared it to Australia with a population of around 23 million and they have over 29,000 prisoners of which 2,100 are female. Perhaps Aussie wasn't the best example given who the UK sent there to start with.
CrazyJoe
Japan should aim to enhance and strengthen the correctional treatment system including the expansion of facilities.
Maria
@SimondB >Perhaps Aussie wasn't the best example given who the UK sent there to start with.
Who England, with its class-oriented society and ridiculous 'justice' system of the time, sent there, had more to do with economic considerations than the severity of the crime. Those sent included political activists, those of other religions, and petty thieves. Most major criminals would have got the death penalty.
From this article >The two main crimes for which women were imprisoned were theft and drug-taking,
I would like to see a breakdown of these categories - ie what kind of theft (robbery? Locker-room? Shop-ifting?), and what drugs (coke? Speed? Hash? weed?).
plasticmonkey
Putting people in prison for a victimless 'crime' is simply wrong. It does not solve the drug problem, and it wastes taxpayer's money. Treat drug abuse as a health issue, not a criminal one.
FizzBit
My guess is a large percentage of these women are accomplices to their boyfriends/husbands, or prostitution. Not surprising considering the economic situation in the last...um...lets say...20 years! Wow, what a coincidence.
spudman
Economy, not a lack of morality education is the problem here.
StormR
My guess is most of the drug incarcerated woman are in for Meth, Japan has a problem with it as do most other 1st world nations,
That drug has destroyed lots of people in recent years and will continue to do so until people are educated more about it.
Meth is a horrible scourge and will make people do all sorts of things they would never ever ordinarily consider.
FizzBit
Hey storm, the news always says "stimulants", that could a number of drugs. So it's meth eh?
StormR
Fizz yeah my guess would be Meth, ( Crank, Ice, Shabu ) it seems to be everywhere and is cheap to produce, Many countries have problems with it and I think as recent as last week there was an article on here about how huge amounts were coming out of Myanmar, Thailand north korea etc , also meth can be cooked at home ( Smell is nasty though ), only going on what I have read and heard though.
Couple of years ago there was a bust not too far from where I live and it turned out that two Iranian guys had been cooking it up in their kitchen making big batches of it for months.
Made from cold tablets bought at the drug store and a couple of other ingredients apparently.
Frungy
StormR - The ingredient in the cold tablets required to make meth is pseudoephedrine. It isn't present in cold tablets in Japan for precisely the reason you stated.
As for these statistics, the problem here isn't that more women are in prison, the problem is that there is still a huge gap between male and female convictions. Studies have consistently shown that women commit the same quantity of non-violent crime as men, but are arrested and convicted a lot less than men for exactly the same crimes. Even when they are convicted they receive significantly less jail time. It is a clear gender bias, and one that has no place in the concept of equality before the law.
taj
Yes, FizzBit, it's meth.
I agree with PlasticMonkey that jailing users is a waste of society's resources. I'd like to see a breakdown of the increase. Is it 90% drug possession?
sourpuss
Prison time is just forced drug treatment. Cold-turkey under a watchful eye.
Calling it a victimless crime ignores the person taking the drugs themself, not to mention the torment the helpless family has to go through as they watch their mother/sister/daughter slowly kill herself.
My cousin went through drug treatment in Canada. God rest her soul, I wonder what she would be doing right now if she had only had a couple of years of forced detox, but that's not how the Canadian system works. Her poor parents tried everything they could over a tortuous 20-year span, but the law insists that drug addicts are free to ruin their own and their family's lives, so they eventually ended up burying her at the age of 40.
Miserable brother, miserable parents, dead woman. "Victimless?" Anything but.
nath
Sourpuss.
Well said. Watched a friend going through addiction & detox stuck to him even after his family quit. He has been clean now for 20+yrs.
Sometimes I think it was harder for us than him. He sez now it was our help and support that pulled him through. Honestly sad for your loss.
davestrousers
By that argument alcoholics, heavy smokers, obese people, attempted suicides.. they're all harming themselves so put them in prison? Some countries might have prisons that are a good place to detox with the right kind of health care but I doubt Japan and most other places are. And then at the very least there is the stigma of having gone to prison and the affects that would have on your job prospects meaning that you're more likely to be in a desperate situation in the future where you might return to abusing.
nath
Davetrousers.
Quiet right how many devote Christians(example) beat up on their family or commit adultery after a few pints or when stoned or high. They all should be treated the same.
taiko666
@davetrousers, plasticmonkey
Indeed. Modern anti-drug legislation creates criminals and provides gangsters an easy source income and power. And it's insanely hypocritical...
@sourpuss
You story is of course tragic, but I'm convinced that if drugs consumption was legal and controlled, there would be fewer addicts because they'd be no 'pushers' in it for greed.