Japan to Crack Down on ‘Grooming’ of Children for Indecent Purposes on Social Media
Approaching and coaxing anxious or troubled children for the purpose of indecent acts is known as “grooming” in criminal jargon. Japan’s Ministry of Justice is considering penalizing grooming, as a number of children, mainly middle and high school students, have become victims of sexual crimes by people they have met through social media.
What is the technique of this despicable act to win the hearts of children by pretending to be kind to them?
In early April this year, a 22-year-old unemployed man living at his parents’ house in Shimotsuma, Ibaraki Prefecture, headed to Kobe, about 500 kilometers away, to meet a 14-year-old junior high school girl he had gotten to know via Twitter. The two had been in daily contact via the free messaging app Line and other means for about a month. The female student reportedly asked him to be her boyfriend and he accepted.
He stayed in the Kobe area for three days and engaged in sexual intercourse with the girl at a karaoke bar on the day they first met in person. After returning to his home in Shimotsuma, he continued to solicit the girl on Line, saying things like, “Let’s live together.”
About a week later, the man was in Kobe again. He met up with the girl on her way home from school, and they took an overnight bus and headed for his home where he lived with his parents. However, their life together in Ibaraki ended after three days. He was caught on the spot on suspicion of kidnapping a minor by investigators of Hyogo Prefectural Police, who were searching for the female student after her parents reported that their daughter had not returned home.
In September, the Kobe District Court sentenced the man to three years’ imprisonment, suspended for four years, for kidnapping a minor and other crimes. At the trial, it was revealed that the man had also skillfully approached other girls who confided their problems online, kidnapped them, and engaged in sexual acts with them. The man stated at the trial that “the girls were mentally young, so it was easy to talk to them intimately,” and that “if they were naughty girls, they would send me naked pictures if I asked them.”
Azusa Saito, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Mejiro University who is an expert on child sexual abuse, commented that grooming is a “sophisticated technique, and it is difficult for children to prevent themselves from being victimized.”
The perpetrators may arrange to meet with children who have gradually gained their trust through social media, and then touch their bodies or engage in sexual acts with them, or they may approach children they have never met before at parks and other places and become close to them.
In particular, cases involving the use of social media are considered to be more likely to lead to sexual contact, since it is easy to engage in frequent, private conversations through chat rooms and other means. And many of the victims are middle and high school students.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of boys and girls under the age of 18 who are victims of crimes stemming from social media is on the rise. In 2012, there were 1,076 cases, while in 2019 there were 2,082, the highest number ever recorded. In 2021, the number remained high at 1,812. Ninety-five percent of these cases involved incidents through smartphones.
According to Saito, the perpetrators target children who are struggling with changes in their lives, such as going on to higher education, or with friendships, as well as children who become close to them through hobbies such as games. The offenders gain the trust of the children while satisfying their self-esteem of wanting to be recognized and praised.
How can sexual harm from grooming be prevented? According to the Ministry of Justice, in the United Kingdom, a person aged 18 or older who has established a relationship of trust through grooming may be legally punished if they meet someone under the age of 16 while possessing contraceptives. Also, in Germany, the act of grooming itself, such as contacting a child online for the purpose of sexual abuse, is apparently punishable under law.
Taking a cue from these examples, moves toward the establishment of penalties are accelerating in Japan as well. On Oct. 24, the ministry presented a proposal to establish new penalties for grooming, which would impose imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (about $3,600) for seducing a person under 16 years old for indecent purposes, and imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 1 million yen (about $ 7,200) for actually meeting the person.
Saito expressed high expectations for the establishment of penalties, but also said, “Social media are important platforms for children in this day and age.” In order to prevent damage, she said, it is important to teach children at home about the dangers of the internet and to prevent them from posting things carelessly online.
She added “It is important to know what children want from social media and how they use the sites.”
