Child abuse numbers hit record high in Jan.-June

Jiji PressTOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japanese police referred a record 17,224 suspected child abuse victims aged under 18 to child consultation centers across the country in January-June, up 32 percent from a year before, the National Policy Agency said Thursday.

The first-half number rose for the fourth straight year since the statistics began in 2011.

Of the total, the police temporarily took 1,152 children into protective custody because of possible dangers to their lives or physical safety, up by 185. The number topped 1,000 for the first time on a first-half basis.

The number of psychologically abused children came to 11,104, up 43 percent. Of them, 7,273 children, up 42 percent, were exposed to domestic violence between parents.

The number of physically abused children totaled 3,882, up 12 percent, followed by 2,144 who faced negligence or neglect, up 25 percent. Ninety-four children were sexually abused, up 13 percent.

Fourteen children died from abuse, up by four and the first increase in five years.

The overall number of victims rose as the police’s proactive stance of dealing with child abuse helped uncover more cases of exposure to domestic violence, an NPA official said.

Many nude images self-released

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A record number of children under 18 who fell victim to child pornography in Japan in January-June took and released nude images of themselves, National Police Agency data showed Thursday.

During the six months, Japanese police identified a total of 383 child pornography victims, and 156 of them took and sent their own nude images using smartphones and other devices via the Line free communication application or e-mail, according to the data.

Of the children who took their own images, 85 percent fell prey to child pornography via social networking services.

The total number of children confirmed as child pornography victims increased by 58 from the same period last year to the largest number since the agency started taking the statistics in 2000.

 Of the total, 60 were children of elementary school age or below. The youngest victim was an eight-month-old boy.