Military crime down in Japan

[joshuaism]

Stars and Stripes - Major crimes among military down in Japan

USFJ, Japanese officials: Education, stricter policies led to decline

In 2006, one U.S. servicemember in Japan was arrested on suspicion of murder, according to Japanese police statistics. The same year, one servicemember was arrested following a rape. Seven people from the U.S. military community — servicemembers, civilians and family members — were arrested in connection with robberies. A total of 26 were arrested in cases involving assaults and other violent crimes.

While these records tally grave and disturbing crimes, they also point to the dearth of serious offenses involving the 96,000 people in the American military community in Japan and Okinawa. Crime statistics for recent years show that major crimes involving the U.S. military are in most cases stagnant or decreasing, according to numbers from Japan’s National Police Agency. Because the number of cases is so small, it’s impossible to tell if the statistics indicate any trends, U.S. military officials acknowledge. Still, from 2002 to 2006, there were fewer rapes, robberies, thefts and drug cases involving U.S. servicemembers, family members and civilian workers. Military records show similar results. From 2003 to 2007, cases involving sexual assaults, robberies, thefts and drug offenses dropped, according to U.S. Forces Japan.

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-Marine "Persecuted, not Prosecuted" in Japan

[SgtBeavis]

While its nice to hear reports like this I would like to see more information.

For instance, what is the crime rate among the US Forces Japan population when compared with the Japanese population. What does that crime rate look like over the last couple of decades.

I'm curious because I know from personal experience that US Military crime rates are "generally" lower than the civilian population. However the Japanese population generally has a low crime rate to begin with. So I'd be interested in seeing a comparison..

[Uthark_Runa]

I know that the Japanese National Police along with various DoD law enforment groups (OSI, NCIS, etc.) Have put together their "numbers" for all crimes, not just violent ones, and as of last year people living in japan under the SOFA status which is more than just military members have the lowest per capita crime in the country. Even lower than Japanese nationals. It is sad that there are still bad apples in the group, and that they reflect poorly on everyone else, and unfortunatly the majority are demonized. That being said Military members should be holding their selves to a higher standard, and regardless of how low their numbers are, it will never be enough. SOFA status member crime will never be zero, but the fact that so many people are actually setting a good example, and not being applauded for it is kind of sad.

[joshuaism]

While its nice to hear reports like this I would like to see more information.

For instance, what is the crime rate among the US Forces Japan population when compared with the Japanese population. What does that crime rate look like over the last couple of decades.

Well, as I said in this post elsewhere, good numbers are hard to come by. The article includes these two graphics and mentions that in 2006 there were 54,505 violent offence arrests and 1,241 arrests for murder in Japan.



This .pdf from the National Police Agency might provide more info on overall crime trends for 2006.

I think information on military crime is hard to come by because the military works hard to suppress bad press. If the numbers look bad, the military just doesn't release them. Notice that the graphics just count crimes and arrests off-base. I imagine crime rates for any population would go down considerably when you don't count crimes in the home and in the workplace.

[joshuaism]

SOFA status member crime will never be zero, but the fact that so many people are actually setting a good example, and not being applauded for it is kind of sad.

Boo-fucking-hoo. In base papers, on AFN, and in military PR breifs, its constant, wall-to-wall coverage of good stuff done by military members. They are being applauded for it all the time, and if they wanted to, they could insulate themselves from all the criticism by tuning into only those media channels.

If the newspapers and outside media wanted to cover any of these events they could, they don't because it's boring. Good news is not news.

[joshuaism]

After reading that there were only 16 sexual assaults, rapes, and murders committed by military members in Japan from 1955 to 2008 (read it here), I decided to do some more research on the subject. A footnote in this paper led me to a 2003 mainichi newspaper article by Tomoko Daiji that had this to say.

According to the NPA's national statistics confirmed by this reporter, in 1995 when the rape incident occurred, the number of U.S. servicemen-committed crimes, such as criminal crimes including murder and bodily injury, and violations of special laws (excluding traffic-related ones) such as the Law Controlling Possession, etc. of Fire-Arms and Sword, and also the Stimulants Control Law amounted to 140 cases. But in 1996, the figure halved. But from that time on the figure has been on the increase. In 2001, the number reached 164 cases, a nearly 2.5 times increase in five years.

In 2001, there were 223 violations of the criminal law/special laws, combining those committed by servicemen and their family members and civilian component—civilian persons of U.S. nationality who are in the employ of, serving with, or accompanying the U.S. armed forces in Japan. This figure was nearly 2 times the 113 cases in 1996. When it comes to violations of special laws by servicemen, there were 78 in 2001, with the figure being 5 times the 16 cases in 1996. [url=www-leland.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/wwwsul/test/depts/asrg/dailysum/Daily_Summary_2003/jan_03/DS030124.DOC]more...[/url]

So it looks like crime is just now returning to the levels it was at back in 1995 (140 cases in 1995 vs. 145 cases in 2006). Pretty good news, right?

related: U.S. military 'crimebusters' live it up at public's expense