Photo/Illutration The Children and Families Agency (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The government will reconsider its plans for a system to block convicted sex offenders from jobs that bring them into direct contact with children after mounting calls within the ruling coalition to widen the scope of the proposed legislation.

As it stands now, people convicted of sex crimes would be restricted from working with children in educational institutions and child care facilities. Critics of the proposed legislation say it does not go nearly far enough.

As a result, the government is expected to postpone its initial plan to submit a bill to create a Japanese version of Britain’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to an extraordinary Diet session in autumn, sources said.

The Children and Families Agency wants a system that requires schools, day care centers, children’s institutions and other selected facilities to confirm through a nationwide database whether an employee or job applicant is a convicted sex offender.

The agency planned to introduce a certification framework for other types of facilities, such as cram schools and sports clubs. Facilities that wish to use the new system would be certified by the government.

It also planned to place a certain limit for the period in which sex crime records will remain on the database due to concerns from the perspective of promoting correction and social rehabilitation of convicts.

However, members of the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito said the system would not be effective unless the scope of facilities covered by the requirements is expanded.

They also said it would be pointless if sex crime records were listed on the database for only a short time.

The government concluded it needs to coordinate views with the coalition parties further before finalizing the proposal.

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