Photo/Illutration This binder contains the records of child abuse cases investigated by a single child consultation center. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A record 108,050 cases of suspected child abuse were were referred to child welfare centers by police in Japan last year, the National Police Agency said Feb. 3.

The cases involved minors aged 18 or younger.

Although the figure is still preliminary, data since 2004, when the agency began collecting figures, show that the number of police reports to child welfare centers keeps increasing year after year.

Agency officials identified two reasons behind the trend.

One concerns growing awareness of the problem, particularly after members of the public witness or hear about suspected abuse and report the matter to the police.

The other reflects keener efforts by police to alert child welfare centers to suspected abuse.

An agency official pledged that police will work harder to identify such instances in light of the fact that many children may be more vulnerable these days because fewer adults are interreacting in their communities due to the pandemic.

“We will try to catch the first signs of suspected abuse by visiting homes and patrolling communities,” an agency official said.

The agency said 80,299 children, or more than 70 percent of the total, were subjected to psychological abuse. This entailed physical violence unfolding between parents, often in front of their children, and repeated verbal abuse of children by parents.

The number of victims in this category was up 2.4 percent, compared with 2020.

Cases where children were physically abused totaled 19,185, down 1.4 percent, while 8,270 children, down 6.6 percent, fell victim to neglect.

Th NPA said 296 children were sexually abused, an increase of 0.3 percent.

Police also exposed 2,170 cases of abuse by parents and others, a record, up 1.7 percent from last year.

Of this number, physical abuse accounted for 1,762 cases, up 0.3 percent, while the figure for sexual abuse came to 339, a rise of 13.4 percent.

This was followed by 48 psychological abuse cases, up 4.3 percent, and 21 neglect cases, down 34.4 percent.

The agency also said the number of consultations about domestic violence brought to police attention by the members of the public is also surging.

Last year, there were 83,035 such cases, the highest since 2001, when the agency began compiling reports on the issue.

Consultations about stalkers stood at 19,728, down 2.3 percent from 2020 and the first time for the count to go below 20,000.

Related News