Japan aims to block sex offenders from jobs in schools, child care

the main pillar of a new government agency

there you have it..... more bureaucracy.... （ー△ー；）

How is this not already a thing?

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

‘They chose to become outcast by their actions. Can’t blame a system that could prevent them from offending again.

Earlier this month, Kishida instructed Seiko Noda, the minister in charge of child-related policies.

‘Not a politician with a track record of successful outcomes so that’s sad news.

Japan finally wants to block sex offenders from working at ES... in 2022.

some experts are concerned that such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences.

the most important thing is to protect the children, not convicted sex offenders. This law can’t come in soon enough..

GarthgoyleToday  07:09 am JST

Japan finally wants to block sex offenders from working at ES... in 2022.

A Great Leap Forward for Japan. Thing is, other countries have been doing this since the 70s - maybe before. Better late than never I guess.

MoskolloToday  07:14 am JST

some experts are concerned that such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences.

the most important thing is to protect the children, not convicted sex offenders. This law can’t come in soon enough..

It's about time. Children even in America get abused and exploited and groomed and this is just one step toward improving things for them.

Japan….2022.

It's always "aim" or "consider" when it should have been started a long long time ago.

How is this not already a thing?

First thing that popped into my mind. Literally word for word.

some experts are concerned that such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences.

I'm all for rehabilitation, but letting them work with kid's again should not be part of that rehabilitation. Find a new career.

“such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences” 

Truth is there’s no rehabilitating sex offenders. Once convicted, they should never be allowed to work at schools or childcare facilities.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," GOOD!!

NOT GOOD!!

A sex offender being made a social outcast (pariah) may go through negative changes of behaviour and could even become aggressive, more dangerous and even resort to far worse acts of violence (i.e.: Robbery, Murder, Terrorism)!

Rehabilitation is far better than ostracism!

While many parents have welcomed the initiative, some experts are concerned that such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences.

The risks for minors obviously outweigh this concern, so even if some hindrance was unavoidable that would not end up being a strong argument to avoid doing it. Fortunately there are many ways to put in order such system so it should not be too difficult to protect potential victims in a way that rehabilitation is possible. It may even facilitate it as people that obviously have a lot of difficulty to control themselves would be without an opportunity to relapse, like making difficult for alcoholics to work as bartenders.

of a new government agency

A lot of people have called for us to have something like a sex offender list here. And that it's not that difficult to arrange with the level of different data collection here. For a long time, there were claims from the government about how impossible or difficult it was and that it would disqualify said person, that it was discriminatory and all that kind of poop.

And so someone came up with this half-assed solution, but in our style - make a simple thing as difficult as possible, absurdly complex. A new gov. agency. Awesome....

Hisashi Sonoda, a professor emeritus of criminal law at Konan University, raised issues such as the risk of information leak on someone's sex crime history and the ambiguity of the definition of sex crimes to be covered under the system.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

Two sides of the coin. On the one hand, there is a lack of data protection and no one is doing much to prevent it. Unencrypted communication at the authorities, local offices exchanging data via emails with personal data in them,... So I understand this statement. Do you want to know what data an authority has collected about you? Impossible, they won't give you your data. They don't have a procedure, etc. Do you want them to shred your data? Impossible.

However, the "social outcast" is simply what will prevent a sex offender from working with the group in question. Or eliminates a lot of it. Definitely better than the status quo.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

YES! This is exactly the reason for having the system. We don't want them living in our streets, walking in our parks and especially working in our schools.

But in 2022 the "feelings" of convicted sex offenders come before the safety of children.

1975 alive and unwell in Japan, 2022 and onwards. STOP sex offenders being NEAR children.

This is so odd. When I first started teaching in the public school system out of uni in 1997 in Georgia, I had to have a complete police background check, state wide, before they let me even see the contract to sign. Anything other than minor traffic violations and I wouldn't get the job. How can there not be a conditon like this with a national police system like Japan has?

While many parents have welcomed the initiative, some experts are concerned that such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences.

This is even odder. Completion of a sentence does not equal rehabilitated. Recidivism is high for sex offenders.

hey, it's about time. I just wonder how effective will this be? A lot of people who committed heinous crimes got off scot-free by just bowing, saying sorry and paying stuff off the books, and still at large to this day. I agree with Kumagaijin, fathers are just seen as moneymakers and nothing else. Back on topic though, this is an inconsistency for Japan to me. They're extremely strict on petty crimes such as a guy underpaying for a convenience store coffee or a civil servant who took his lunch a couple of minutes earlier, but they'd allow sex offenders, especially if they're high profile people, off the hook like its nothing.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

That's the objective

Whaaaaaaat? Keeping a sex offender from being an elementary school teacher or baby sitter? Ludicrous! Next they'll be demanding that grifters and people convicted of fraud, embezzlement, and other financial crimes not be allowed in authoritative and/or government positions.

raised issues such as the risk of information leak on someone's sex crime history

It's not an issue.

it was until now allowed??

About time!!

About time too. when they get around to this register, make sure its tied to there names, and national insurance number, and anything else that cant be changed, unlike just a name or family name alowing people to clip through the net, it will have to be a nation wide schema, rather than local.

"While many parents have welcomed the initiative, some experts are concerned that such a system may hinder the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentences"

ummm i dont think it will stop them being rehabilitated it will stop them from working directly with children. In some of the lesser offences, they might be allowed back into teaching, but they would be monitored all of the time.

And do they have a dead line to work some thing out, like the end of 2022? sooner the better.

It would also be nice if manga or anime mags stopped sexulalising school girls in/on the mags.

What you are all failing to comprehend is that this is Japan.

1975 alive and unwell in Japan, 2022 and onwards. STOP sex offenders being NEAR children.

My call based on the UK would have been 1980s. All the stories coming out about football coaches, scout groups, churches....

I'm old enough for 1980 to sound recent to me, but it's still forty years ago.

@MichaelMachida

What you are all failing to comprehend is that this is Japan.

And, Japan is 50 years behind.

It’s a good idea. My daughter’s Japanese JHS teacher was going after his students, and he married one of them when she reached legal age. As a teacher, there should be some kind of a red flag on this guy.

Like many posters above.

I am surprised that such a simple law of not allowing sex offenders access to children is not law (O.O)

Also horrified and several other things as i try to work out why it has not been put into law yet.

well, there's a thought.

Why has this not been implemented earlier?

It should extend to orphanages where sex offenders are known to gravitate to.

Well well, Welcome to the 20th century, Japan.

This week We are also introducing CDs and a thing called the Internet.

Good for Japan, move forward !!..

why it took ages to do at least something/some kind of agency means again more tax money wasting?/...

"Aims to"????

How in the name of all that's holy is this not step one in the recruitment process?

Better late than never, sure.

But seriously, how has this not already come up? Not to mention this shouldn't be an aim, this should fly through every legislative body, as long as nobody is trying to attach extra bills as a rider.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

Do I hear an empty stable door being bolted?

Isn’t it the very fact of committing sexual crimes, particularly against children, that forever makes sex offenders social outcasts, rather than the incidental notion of their names thereafter being recorded in an official list?

Whether or not ‘rehabilitation’ is possible and feasible for sex offenders, forgiveness is another matter. Any person who has committed such acts irrevocably surrenders his or her right to be accepted and regarded as a ‘normal’ member of society.

TT

Well, that’s only about 30 years too late. There is a thing called, the internet. In most ‘modern’ countries there is a sex offenders’ list that anybody can access. With the amount of sex offenses against children in Japan it would be quite an extensive read.

It could always be worse.

Straw grabbing pearl clutching over some serial sex criminals and then crying because their broken future. “oh won’t anyone think of the child predator?”

Almost gets ya, teary eyed, hits you... right in the tender places.

Everything can possibly go wrong. Cannot disagree with the statement. But just because things go wrong doesnt mean we oughta kid glove these gargoyles Hard pass on the fear factor my amigo. Thanks for the tip-off though. If what you say is true. These monsters are 100x more deadly and dangerous than I thought.

There's no time for any lame, candy a... teartment.

Microchip em, barcode em, collar em, never let em out of plain sight without a tracker. They can only use sex offender smartphones and apps know who they are so no more SNS grooming! Soon as they get near the daycare-

Light em up!

Cobble up some tax yens for the new uniforms, start doing the rounds, drop by at odd hours, send an nhk guy undercover with tasers and paint guns, get creative. Do whatever it takes.

Always let these ghouls know they’re being watched everyday, everywhere they go. They’ll get used to it.

That'll rehab em.

> TuxedoMichaelToday 08:05 am JST

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," GOOD!!

NOT GOOD!!

A sex offender being made a social outcast (pariah) may go through negative changes of behaviour and could even become aggressive, more dangerous and even resort to far worse acts of violence (i.e.: Robbery, Murder, Terrorism)!

But in the meantime...

Japan should have a National Sex Offender Registry.

It's shocking that there isn't already a system in place to block sex offenders from working with the most vulnerable members of society in Japan!

Hisashi Sonoda, a professor emeritus of criminal law at Konan University, raised issues such as the risk of information leak on someone's sex crime history and the ambiguity of the definition of sex crimes to be covered under the system.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

So they should be outcast from society! They have committed one of the most vile crimes in human civilisation and being shunned by society is the fault of their own actions and no one else!

And my stance on that matter will never change. The safety and wellbeing of my daughters (and everyone else's children) is more important than the feelings of a sex offender!!

What a big bs. So the former offender just falsifies that paper or let it print by a similar keen acquaintance and is again near children without too much efforts, while the clean and normal person can’t bring the paper, because it denies the prejudice procedures or has no access in a former country for example, and then is forbidden to work and of course also immediately outcast socially for no reason at all. Just forget it, that won’t work. In addition, statistics show that the very most cases occur in families, by relatives, near friends, acquaintances etc as well on the way to or back from those institutions by unknown persons or groups, not directly in or at a school, kindergarten or nursery.

We are 2022, how sad it took this long.

Japan is considering requiring those who want a job in child care or education to submit proof that they are not convicted sex offenders

So the burden is on the people again? What will the government do? Nothing.

If I had a dollar for every school teacher I know who has married an ex-student, I would have a very full wallet.

Only male teachers, Ive never heard of a single female teacher marrying a student... Odd that?

Ive never heard of a single female teacher marrying a student... 

Brigitte Macron married her student who went on to become quite big in French politics.

the main pillar of a new government agency that will control child-related policies

I guess someone's cousin needed a new job.

At last, but it shouldn’t just be for those working with children, it should also cover those working with vulnerable adults.

stormcrow

It’s a good idea. My daughter’s Japanese JHS teacher was going after his students, and he married one of them when she reached legal age. As a teacher, there should be some kind of a red flag on this guy.

I'm pretty sure there's no law against marrying a woman of legal age, even if she was a prior student.

And, unless there has been some sort of sexual misconduct with said student, or her classmates, prior to that marriage, he has done nothing wrong, nor is a red flag necessary.

Mr Kipling

If I had a dollar for every school teacher I know who has married an ex-student, I would have a very full wallet.

Exactly. It's quite common. Nothing is wrong with marrying a woman of legal age. In fact, these men who are attracted to a student, but manage to refrain from improper behavior until after the student has attained legal age, and is no longer a student, should be commended as compared to the predators who commit actual sexual crimes against them.

Hisashi Sonoda, a professor emeritus of criminal law at Konan University, raised issues such as the risk of information leak on someone's sex crime history and the ambiguity of the definition of sex crimes to be covered under the system.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

That's the point fool.

I mean they could, NOT do it in the first place.

This being Japan, all the information will need to be faxed, of course.

i hear from an investigator that they are also checking records from country of origin including offenses in Japan if you're a foreigner applying for a teaching position employers are granted a website to check that kind of history through the local police. I personally give it a thumbs up.

"[...] requiring those who want a job in child care or education to submit proof that they are not convicted sex offenders

Wait, a person would need to prove they are NOT. How????

Do we all get issues with a certificate saying we're not sex offenders, and then they get taken away if there's a conviction or something?

Seems very easy to defraud the system, or for people to fail afoul of it despite being innocent.

This is a bad idea. Downvote away, but remember my comment in a few years when I;m proven correct.

Yes, proper child protection in Japan is decades overdue. It's shocking how many abusers are discovered but not removed from the system, and how many openly abuse and get away with it, or abusers can just move or be moved on to repeat their crimes somewhere else. But bringing in these new powers also need to be matched with some serious institutional reform. You now have a system where each prefecture's boards of education are like a separate fiefdom, so teachers are basically 'locked in' to one prefecture. They need to make a national system of teacher hiring part of introducing background checks. They need clear transparent rules about who this applies to, and talking of the UK system, they need to limit both who it applies to (ie only people directly working with children or vulnerable adults), and they need to carefully filter out irrelevant convictions ie anything not directly related to child abuse. Otherwise they risk the same abuse of authority that has happened in the UK, with people with minor and totally irrelevant convictions being blacklisted for life. The danger with giving vetting agencies such power and access to private information is abuse of power and hundreds of thousands of people having their life chances blighted. For example, in the UK, because of past overreach, the system has been softened, so that some offences committed when you were a minor can get wiped from the record. So sure, yes, protect the children, but remember that if you don't limit the powers of these agencies, and control access to the data very carefully, that those powers can be and will be massively abused.

High Time if Japan want to improve its Demography otherwise wise keep employing sexual offenders at schools will only result in decreasing population

Are children, the most vulnerable in society second class citizens? Why are monsters being allowed access to them ? Kids already have it tough and add the extra burden of being in proximity of sex offenders is a crime in itself.

Hisashi Sonoda, a professor emeritus of criminal law at Konan University, raised issues such as the risk of information leak on someone's sex crime history and the ambiguity of the definition of sex crimes to be covered under the system.

The system "could lead to the offender becoming a social outcast," he said.

How is this dumbo an "expert" on anything?

Does Japan not have a sex offenders list? Anyone committing a sex-based crime in the UK is automatically put on the sex offenders list.

Considering that purchasing explicit material featuring minors was perfectly legal until 2000, why are you all impressed there was no register for offenders and that officials are even defending them? The country has always been a safe haven for people like them, where fetishisation and sexualisation of children and teenagers is and will keep being mainstream for a long time.

Looks like a lot of salary men will be jailed for dating or soliciting young girls or boys!! If you look at the age of consent and becoming an legal adult in Japan some lawyer will find a loop hole in this ruling can come into play in the courts.

All kinds of employment PLEASE.

Wait, a person would need to prove they are NOT. How????

Do we all get issues with a certificate saying we're not sex offenders, and then they get taken away if there's a conviction or something?

Seems very easy to defraud the system, or for people to fail afoul of it despite being innocent.

This is a bad idea. Downvote away, but remember my comment in a few years when I;m proven correct.

> 0( +0 / -0 )

No one's downvoted you yet :)

And while you find the logistics of this unfathomable, you will be pleased to hear that other countries have already tackled this scenario with ease - barely an inconvenience.

An in-scope employer (eg a school) or other institution enquiries for a nominal fee as to whether the applicant has any sexual offences on their criminal record. If they do, it comes back to say that they do (although probably not the specific details of the offence). The employer can then refuse the applicant.

Every few years they can recheck to see if you have done anything in the meant.

Once set up, sexual offenders will avoid seeking employment in roles where they know they will get checked.

Seems very easy to defraud the system, or for people to fail afoul of it despite being innocent.

No and no. The only thing to keep in mind is that just because someone does not have a criminal record, it doesn't mean that they haven't offended and got away with it.

Wow. I am surprised this was not already the case. I took a job driving a school bus way back in 1978 to pay for college and had to be fingerprinted and undergo a significant background check as part of the process to receive a license from the state to drive a school bus. Everyone on staff in the school district was fingerprinted and went through the same drill. It had been that way for decades. Even that is no guarantee the employee will stay on the straight and narrow based on the steady drumbeat of teachers and coaches convicted for sex crimes with children but at least the state is trying to weed out the known criminals from the job candidate pool.

i hear from an investigator that they are also checking records from country of origin including offenses in Japan if you're a foreigner applying for a teaching position employers are granted a website to check that kind of history through the local police. I personally give it a thumbs up.

if you live overseas for more than 12 months then you need to supply a criminal history record from the country of residence, before you will be granted teacher registration, but that only covers convictions not allegations

Japan should not allow convicted sex offenders to work with children. it must be a one strike and your out. Find a new career, if anyone will employ them

What here is the meaning of a Sex Offender ?

A Drunk Guy at a Party opportunistically hugging a female colleague ?