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A Quantitative Analysis of Legislation with Harsher Punishment in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2021

Shunsuke Kyo
Shunsuke Kyo*
Affiliation:
Chukyo University School of Law, Nagoya
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to show how the Japanese government has created laws with harsher punishment since the 1990s. While a tendency toward harsher punishment is common in advanced Western countries, a similar tendency in Japan has prompted scholarly discussion on whether it can be understood through the “penal-populism” framework. However, it lacks in systematic evidence. This study presents three findings that differ from previous studies through a quantitative analysis of legislation with harsher punishment. First, while previous literature argues that the legislation increased in the latter half of the 1990s, this study shows that it peaked in the middle of the 2000s. Second, while previous literature argues that the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Justice promote the legislation, this study shows that it is caused by every ministry’s drafting Bills. Third, this study shows that it does not quantitatively avoid partisan conflicts, contrary to the prediction of the “penal-populism” theory.

Keywords

(harsher) punishmentpenal populismlegislationcriminal policyJapan
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 81 - 107
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

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