Japan’s Crime Figures Rise for Second Successive Year

The 2024 white paper on crime published by Japan’s Ministry of Justice shows that the number of reported crimes in 2023 increased by more than 100,000 to 703,351, in the second successive annual rise. Theft accounted for nearly 70% of all offences, with 483,695 cases.

Looking at the report, there were 912 homicides (up 59 year on year), 1,361 robberies (up 213) and 46,011 cases of fraud (up 8,083).

The number of arrests for criminal offenses rose by 19,200 to 269,550 in the first increase since 2004. This included 12,479 arrests for cybercrimes and 8,232 for violations of the Cannabis Control Act as marijuana usage spreads among young people, both of which were new records. There were also 7,212 arrests for specialized fraud, up 572 year on year. The white paper noted that fraud cases via the internet or telephone often involved loosely organized tokuryū crime groups.

The arrest rate fell by 3.3 percentage points to 38.3%.

Of the total of 183,269 people arrested, 97,170 were first-time offenders and 86,099 reoffenders. The recidivism rate fell by 0.9 points to 47.0%, dropping for the third consecutive year after a long period of successive increases.

The number of juveniles (aged 14 to 19) arrested for criminal offenses rose by 16.3% to 34,768.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: Investigators at a crime scene in Shinagawa, Tokyo, on May 24, 2024. © Jiji.)