Police took action in 292 bullying cases at schools in 2023, up by 66 percent from 2022 and the highest number since an anti-bullying law took effect a decade ago, the National Police Agency said.

The number of elementary, junior high and senior high school students punished in these cases was 404, an 81-percent surge from the previous year.

All three school-age groups showed increases in perpetrators, but elementary school bullies totaled the largest number ever, with 125 of them referred to police.

That was highest number since 1991, when such statistics were first collected.

The NPA believes the rise in serious bullying cases is due to progress in “school-police cooperation.”

The central government last year encouraged schools to consult with and report to the police cases of bullying.

The law for the promotion of anti-bullying measures, which took effect in September 2013, came in response to the 2011 suicide of a second-year student who had been bullied at a city-run junior high school.

The number of bullying incidents among elementary, junior high and senior high school students was 265 in 2014, the year after the law was enacted.

Although the figure had been on a downward trend, it spiked in 2023, surpassing the previous record set in 2014.

Assault was the most common act in the 292 bullying cases, with 102 incidents, followed by 60 cases of assault causing bodily injury and 46 cases of child prostitution and child pornography.

Among elementary school pupils, coercion was the most common type of bullying act, while child pornography was the most common case among both junior and senior high school students.

The internet was used in more than 20 percent of all cases, and more than half of the online cases involved child prostitution and child pornography.

In some incidents, the victims were forced to post sexually explicit images of themselves on social media, the NPA said.

Cases of child prostitution and child pornography have nearly tripled over the past 10 years, fueled by the spread of smartphone use, the NPA said.

In February 2023, the education ministry asked schools nationwide to consult with police regarding bullying cases that may seriously damage children’s lives or property.

The ministry said child pornography can spread rapidly on the internet and remain permanently online.

The ministry urged schools to take immediate action in cooperation with the police to quickly remove such images and videos.

Despite the push by the government, the number of cases of school bullying reported to police is just a fraction of the overall figure.

According to a ministry survey, about 680,000 cases of bullying were recognized in elementary, junior high and high schools nationwide in fiscal 2022. Schools consulted police on about 2,000 of these cases.

A principal of a public junior high school in Tokyo has given a talk to parents every April about bullying.

“Even if you call it bullying, a crime is still a crime. It is heartbreaking, but we have no choice but to hand the matter over to the police,” the principal said.

If parents are informed that the school would hand a bullying case to police, they are less likely to object when the school actually reports the incident, the principal said.

In 2022, a student threatened a classmate on their way home from a cram school and demanded 10,000 yen ($66). The school immediately reported the incident to police.

The junior high school principal said there was no protest from the parents.

“It is difficult for the school alone to investigate bullying because some bullying occurs outside classrooms or involves students from other schools,” the principal said. “If a child goes to the police, it is easier for the perpetrator to admit guilt.”

For many years, schools have strongly resisted make bullying a “police matter.”

The anti-bullying law stipulates that school bullying cases should be handled in cooperation with local police departments.

Progress had been slow, but in recent years, the cooperative relationship between schools and police has strengthened.

In October 2023, Sapporo city’s board of education appointed a former police officer as an adviser. When the board receives information about school bullying, the board asks the adviser to help consult with the police on the matter.

In February 2023, the education ministry issued a notice to all national, public and private schools in Japan, requesting thorough cooperation with police in dealing with bullying.

The ministry listed 19 cases of bullying that could be considered crimes, including “forcible removing trousers” and “tearing up school uniforms with cutters.”

Even if schools believe they can handle the situation on its own, the ministry urges them to consult with the police first.

“There are some cases that cannot be handled by schools alone, especially ones that require handling evidence,” a ministry official said. “It is necessary to further strengthen the ties between the schools and the police.”

If teachers try to preserve evidence themselves, such as pornographic images, they may be violating the law, the official warned.

Daisuke Fujikawa, a pedagogical methodology professor at Chiba University, said school-police cooperation is especially needed for cases involving illicit images of minors.

“In recent years, with the spread of smartphones and social media, sexually explicit images and videos can be shared in a short period of time, and the number of cases requiring prompt action by the police is increasing,” Fujikawa said. “We have entered an era in which police and schools need to cooperate more closely.”

(This article was compiled from reports by Daichi Itakura, Kohei Kano, Yukihito Takahama and senior staff writer Mayumi Ujioka.)