Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun

Cases of child abuse handled by police in Japan and the number of  victims under age 18 in those incidents rose to record highs last year, the National Police Agency announced March 12.

Police responded to 1,972 incidents of child abuse in 2019, and reported 1,991 victims below age 18.

The figures are up about 40 percent compared to 2018.

Fifty-four children died from abuse, and the number of children taken into protective custody temporarily by police, including during the night, reached 5,553, also a record high.

Of the 1,972 cases, 83.2 percent consisted of physical abuse.

Criminal assaults and bodily harm accounted for more than 90 percent.

Sexual abuse, including rape, accounted for 12.5 percent. Psychological abuse, such as parents hurting children’s feelings by ignoring them or assaulting their spouses in front of them, consisted of 2.5 percent of the cases. Child neglect accounted for 1.8 percent.

Of 2,024 perpetrators, 913 were the fathers of the children.

Mothers, 550, were the second most common, followed by an adoptive father or stepfather with 302, and common-law male partners with 187. Other men, including the child's grandfather, accounted for 46 of the perpetrators.

Police said 1,013 boys and 978 girls were victims of child abuse in 2019. Among the 54 children who died, 21 were killed in murder-suicides. Eight children died soon after birth and 25 in other circumstances.

Thirty-two children were murdered, 11 died as a result of bodily injuries, nine from abandonment resulting in death and two from gross negligence.

In 2019, police notified child welfare centers of 98,222 children on the grounds that they were suspected of suffering from child abuse. The number climbed 22.4 percent compared to the prior year.

Japanese police provided information on 35,578 cases to child welfare centers last year, a record high. The police referred the cases and provided the information to child welfare centers.

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