Children and Family Agency
February 28, 2024 15:28 (Japan time)
According to the brief, schools and child care facilities that seek to determine if an employee has committed a sexual offense in the past should provide training to employees on sexual offenses and promptly identify children at risk of victimization. An interview will be required to understand the situation. A bill to establish a Japanese version of the UK’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
The outline was announced by the Children and Families Agency on Wednesday at the Liberal Democratic Party’s Headquarters for Creating a Bright Future Society. The agency plans to finalize the draft in cooperation with the ruling party and submit the bill to the current Diet session.
The Japanese version of DBS is a database system that allows child-centered facilities to check whether a potential employee has a history of sexual offenses.
Under the bill, only facilities such as schools and daycare centers would be required to check whether potential employees have a history of sexual offenses.
Private businesses such as cram schools and sports clubs can also be certified to use the system on a voluntary basis. Once certified, companies will be required to use the system when hiring new employees, and will be able to demonstrate that they are providing a safe environment for children.
In the Japanese version of DBS, job seekers are notified of search results if a potential employee contacted has a history of sexual offenses. If the person abandons the job search at that point, information about the sexual offense will not be provided to the facility.
Facilities are required to thoroughly manage information, and penalties will be imposed if information is leaked to a third party.
The sexual crime records of people sentenced to prison will be available for viewing through a database for 20 years after their sentence ends. In 2025, the two types of punishment, “imprisonment” and “imprisonment,” will be merged into a new term, “imprisonment.”
Records of people who have been given minor punishments such as fines can be obtained for 10 years. Schools and other child-centered institutions will also be required to train teachers and others on sex crimes to keep children safe.
Additionally, they will be required to interview children and others to determine early on when they are at risk of victimization.
Facilities are also required to create an environment where children feel comfortable seeking advice.
At Wednesday’s meeting, some Liberal Democratic Party members called for long-term searches of offenders’ sexual criminal records.