Japan Introduces Single Type of Imprisonment

   Tokyo, June 2 (Jiji Press)--Japan has unified the criminal punishments of imprisonment with labor and imprisonment without labor, creating the first new type of punishment since the establishment of the Penal Code in 1907.
   The change came as the revised Penal Code took effect on Sunday, with the aim of lowering the recidivism rate by shifting weight from punishment to rehabilitation and treating prisoners more flexibly with a combination of prison work and education.
   The revised Penal Code, enacted in June 2022, stipulates that necessary work and education can be imposed to improve and rehabilitate prisoners. Labor is no longer mandatory for all prisoners.
   According to the government's white paper on crime, the recidivism rate was 47 pct in 2023. Reoffenders accounted for about half of those who were subject to police action in recent years.
   The penalty of imprisonment with labor was problematic in that prisoners sometimes had difficulty finding enough time to receive education for rehabilitation and prevention of reoffending because they were busy doing prison work.

(2025/06/02-20:42)

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