By KEISHI NISHIMURA/ Staff Writer
June 9, 2020 at 15:35 JST
GPS tracking devices used in South Korea (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A ruling Liberal Democratic Party judicial commission is pushing to require convicted sex offenders to wear GPS devices to keep them from committing future offenses.
The LDP’s Research Commission on the Judicial System submitted the proposal for strengthening anti-sex crime measures, which includes mandating the wearing of GPS devices, to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on June 8.
The commission, chaired by former Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa, is asking the Abe administration to adopt the new measures.
The proposal states that even after the revision of Penal Code in 2017, which allowed sex offenders to be prosecuted without a complaint from victims, “brutal sex crimes continue to occur, and the current situation where more vulnerable people suffer from the crimes can never be ignored.”
The proposal called for strengthening the additional measures by revising the laws and earmarking funds in the budget for enforcement.
As measures to prevent sex offenders from recidivism, the commission asked for expanding special programs for offenders as well as the mandatory application of GPS devices.
To support victims of sex crimes, the commission called for cooperation from one-stop support centers and hospitals.
“We would like to create a movement to effectively eradicate sex crimes and violence,” Kamikawa told news reporters.
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