A bill to allow victims of juvenile crimes to sit in court galleries to watch the trials of the young perpetrators became law on Wednesday.

The House of Councillors approved the bill to amend the Juvenile Law at a plenary session on Wednesday. The ruling coalition, comprising of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, as well as the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) voted for the bill.

Serious offenses that lead to the death or serious injury of victims are subject to the new provision in the law.

Family courts are required to decide whether to allow victims or bereaved families to sit in court galleries judging from the mental state and other conditions of the perpetrators.

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and other organizations voiced opposition to the amendment saying it would run counter to the purpose of juvenile trials in helping teenage offenders rehabilitate themselves.

In response, the DPJ requested that the bill be modified to disallow victims and bereaved families from sitting in court galleries if the perpetrators are aged below 12 and to require family courts to interview defense lawyers for teenage perpetrators before deciding whether to allow victims to attend juvenile trials.

The ruling coalition complied with the requests.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment