The Reformatory Law

Article 1. A Reformatory is an institution to receive those persons who have been committed thereto by a Family Court by means of a protective disposition, and give correctional education to them.

Article 2. Reformatories shall be of four kind:Primary, Middle, Advanced and Medical. Primary Reformatories shall receive those persons who are not seriously defective mentally and physically and generally fourteen years of age or over but under sixteen. Middle Reformatories shall receive those persons who are not seriously defective mentally and physically and generally sixteen years of age or over but under twenty. Advanced Reformatories shall receive those persons who are not seriously defective mentally and physically but are more advanced in criminal tendencies, and generally eighteen years of age or over but under twenty-three. Medical Reformatories shall receive those persons who are seriously defective mentally or physically and generally fourteen years of age or over but under twenty-six. Separate male and female Reformatories shall be established.

Article 3. Reformatories shall be national institutions placed under the direction of the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General shall be responsible for adequate maintenance and thorough inspection of Reformatories.

Article 4. Reformatories shall give correctional education which includes courses of study as stated hereinafter, vocational guidance, proper training and medical treatment so that the inmates may prepare for life in society with self-consciousness and in a disciplined manner. a. Primary Reformatories shall provide courses of study required in primary and middle schools. b. Middle and Advanced Reformatories shall provide courses of study required in Primary Reformatories and also, wherever necessary, courses of study equivalent to those of high schools or universities. c. Medical Reformatories shall provide courses of study required in schools for the handicapped or other schools conducting special education. The superintendent of a Reformatory shall not make the inmates engage in work not related to the correctional education mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Article 5. The superintendent of a Reformatory shall follow the advice of the Minster of Education in regard to matters related to the courses of study involved in the correctional education of the inmates thereof. The superintendent of a Reformatory may issue certificates indicating the completion of courses to those who are through with courses of study as stated under the items of the preceding Article. The certificates mentioned in the preceding paragraph have the full force and effect of diplomas and other certificates issued by the chiefs of schools established as per the School Education Law (Law No.26 of 1947) in proof of the completion of courses corresponding to those of Reformatories.

Article 6. Grades shall be established in the treatment of inmates, which shall be heightened in accordance with the degree of their improvement and progress. However, as for those whose conduct and performance are particularly bad, grades of treatment may be lowered.

Article 7. The superintendenr of a Reformatory may give rewards for good conduct, progress and accomplishment of fixed ability of the inmates. The rewards mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be in the form of a certificate or a badge, etc. or in the form of privileges such as leave-out. However, the superintendent of a Reformatory may, with the approval of the Attorney-General, offer rewards other than those stated above. A reward once given shall in no case be taken away.

Article 8. The superintendent of a Reformatory may use disciplinary measures to such extent as stated below towards the inmates who act against internal discipline: a. Admonish the offender strictly; b. Give the offender a more reduced number of merit marks than is usually given; c. Confine the offender against good behavior in a sanitary but solitary room for a period which, in no event, shall exceed twenty days. However, this shall apply only to the offender who is sixteen years or over. Disciplinary actions shall be taken in consideration of the mental and physical condition of the persons concerned.

Article 9. The superintendent of a Reformatory shall safely keep money, clothing and other personal effects of the inmates if he has taken them into custody, and shall give them a receipt therefor.

Article 10. If the superintendent of a Reformatory deems it necessary for convenience of correctional education and other reasons to transfer an inmate thereof to another Reformatory, he must, with the permission of the supervisor of Correction and Rehabilitation District in which the Reformatory is situated, obtain approval as to such transfer from the District Youth Offender Prevention and Rehabilitation Board (Hereinafter called the DYOPAR Board), provided that if the inmate concerned is twenty-threey ears of age or over, he must obtain approval from the District Adult Offender Prevention and Rehabilitation Board (Hereinafter called the DAOPAR Board).

Article 11. The superintendent of a Reformatory shall release the inmates when they reach twenty years of age. However, those inmates who do not spend six months after commitment to the Reformatory may be caused to remain there for six months from the time of commitment. If the superintendent of a Reformatory believes that an inmate as stated in the preceding paragraph is so physically or mentally defective or has got rid of criminal tendency so little as to make it inadvisable to discharge him from the institution, he shall make application for a ruling of the continued custody of the inmate to the Court which has committed him to the Reformatory. Upon receipt of the application as stated in the preceding paragraph, the Court must hear, in the hearing for such application, the opinion of doctors, psychologists, pedagogists, sociologists and other experts and of the personnel of the Reformatory which has the inmate concerned in custody. In case the Court finds that the inmate is under the circumstances mentioned in Paragraph 2, it must make a ruling for continued custody for a specified period. However, such period shall not last after the inmate concerned is twenty-three years of age. In case the Court finds it improper, from the standpoint of public welfare, upon receipt of the application from the Superintendent of the Reformatory, to discharge the inmate twenty-three years of age from the Reformatory because he is mentally defective to a remarkable degree, it must make a ruling for continued custody in a Medical Reformatory for a specified period not lasting after the inmate concerned is 26 years old. The provisions of Paragraphs 2 to 4 inclusive shall apply mutatis mutandis to the case mentioned in the preceding paragraph. In case where the Superintendent of a Reformatory makes application to the Court for a ruling for continued custody of the inmate, he may continue to retain the inmate pending receipt of the information about a ruling made by the Court, despite the provisions of Paragraph 1 of the present Article. The Superintendent of a Reformatory must discharge those inmates who have spent the period specified by the Court.

Article 12. The superintendent of a Reformatory, when he deems his object of correction attained, shall make application to the DYOPAR Board for discharge of an inmate thereof. The superintendent of a Reformatory, when he deems it proper to release on parole an inmate thereof after the latter has been accorded treatment of the highest grade, shall make application to the DYOPAR Board for his release on parole. The superintendent of a Reformatory shall make similar application to the DAOPAR Board in case of inmates, as stated in the two preceding paragraphs, who are twenty-three years of age and upwards.

Article 13. The superintendent of a Reformatory may ask the DYOPAR Board or the court by which the inmate was committed to present a written investigation of his mental and physical conditions, home, associates and other environmental situation, and also to render other necessary help. The superintendent of a Reformatory may ask any National Rural Police official, Municipal Police official, child welfare official or any other public official to render necessary help. The superintendent of a Reformatory may, after obtaining approval from the supervisor of the Correction and Rehabilitation District in which the Reformatory is located, ask schools, hospitals, business concerns or persons of learning or experience to assist in the correctional education of the inmates. In case where the superintendent of a Reformatory asks business concerns or persons of learning or experience to assist in vocational guidance of the inmates in the institutions other than the Reformatory, the provisions of the Labor Standard Law (Law No.49 of 1947) shall be observed, and any reward, if paid to the inmates, shall be provided in full to the inmates themselves.

Article 14. The officers of a Reformatory may take the escaping inmates back.

Article 15. Other necessary matters concerning the treatment of inmates than those prescribed in the present Law shall be provided by Order. The superintendent of a Reformatory may lay down detailed regulations relating to the treatment of inmates with the approval of the Attorney-General.

Article 16. A Juvenile Detention Home shall be an institution to receive those who are committed thereto, in accordance with the provisions of Item 2, Paragraph 1, Article 17 of the Juvenile Law (Law No.168 of 1948). A Juvenile Detention Home shall be a national institution placed under the direction of the Attorney-General. The provisions of Article 9, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 13, Articles 14 and 15 shall apply mutatis mutandis to a Juvenile Detention Home.

Article 17. A Juvenile Classification Office shall be attached to a Juvenile Detention Home. A Juvenile Classification Office shall engage in the classification of the temperament of juveniles on the basis of technical knowledge of medicine, psychology, pedagogy, sociology and other sciences for the purpose of proper protective disposition. The provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 13, Articles 14 and 15 shall appply mutatis mutandis to a Juvenile Classification Office.

Supplementary Provisions:

Article 18. The present Law shall come into force as from January 1, 1949.

Article 19. The Reformatory Law (Law No.43 of 1922) shall be hereby abolished.

Article 20. Those Reformatories (Kyoseiin) which exist at the time of enforcement of this Law shall be regarded as Reformatories (Shonen-in) established by this Law.

Article 21. Specially separated rooms of Reformatories may be utilized as Juvenile Detention Homes until not later than March 31, 1950.

Article 22. The Attorney-General shall exercise the authority that is to be exercised by the supervisor of a Correction and Rehabilitation District in accodance with the provisions of Article 10 and Paragraph 3, Article 13, until the Correction and Rehabilitation Districts are formed.