DELINQUENT GROUPS AND ORGANISED CRIME.

One of the notable features of Japan's criminal statistics in recent years has been the increase in juvenile delinquency. Offences by persons under 20, which had been increasing steadily after the end of the Second World War in 1945, reached a peak in 1951 and thereafter decreased until 1954. After 1955, however, the curve turned upwards again, exceeding in 1960 the 1951 peak, and has since continued to rise. There is a link between the increase in juvenile delinquency and the extremely rapid pace of Japan's industrialization and the problems of concentration in urban areas which this has brought about. Firstly, a high rate of economic growth has produced a flood of commercialistic amusements. Since even adults are susceptible to the stimulus of these new pleasures, it is inevitable that young people should be even more easily led astray. Secondly, children without academic ability, particularly the children of poor parents, whose school records tend to be affected by their social circumstances, lose all hope for the future. This is one of the factors contributing to the high rate of delinquency among fairly young children in Japan. It is very important to apply educational and social treatment with groups of juvenile delinquents, and to find out how to turn their abundant energy to constructive use in society.