Japan Examines Rise in Dismemberment Cases

It seems dismemberment cases are on the rise in Japan. The people of Japan do not typically have the same worries about crime as we do here in the United States. As discussed in a Newsday.com article titled, "Japans Teen Beheads Mother", some experts blame this shocking rise on economic problems and difficulties of the last ten years. In Northern Fukushima Prefecture, low crime rates emphasize the severity of a case against a young seventeen-year-old Japanese boy. He stands accused of killing his mother on May 14^th 2007 and carrying her head in a bag to a local police station.

The boys mother, just one day short of her 47^th birthday was asleep when this attack occurred. He took police officials to her home and showed them where her headless body lay on her mattress. As reported on MSNBC's website, "Boy Suspected of Beheading Mom", the seventeen year old had been seeing a psychiatrist and lately had not been attending classes at his school.

These alarming new developments towards violent crimes are very shocking for a nation that feels comfortable walking the streets at night without worry. Japan has always been very proud of its low crime rates. Violent crimes in particular have always been very low and some feel this is because of the strict gun restrictions that Japan has in place.

Susumu Oda, a criminal psychologist and considered to be an expert in his field stated in a Newsday.com article titled "Japan Teen Beheads Mother", that the latest trend of dismemberment incidents "are a kind of chain reaction."

In January of 2007, a Japanese woman admitted to killing her husband with a wine bottle then cutting up his body. She told police that she cut him up with a saw and then deposited his remains in different locations around the City of Tokyo. She confided to investigators that her husband had been abusing her physically and on an emotional level. Her confession ended an investigation that had Tokyo police bewildered. The murdered mans remains were located and his head was reportedly found in the park.

The latest beheading committed by one of Japan's youth brings unpleasant memories involving a case in 1997. A fourteen-year-old Japanese boy beheaded a schoolmate of eleven. In this incident, the youth left the severed head of the eleven year old at their school gate. In the mouth of the head he placed a very disturbing note.

The 1997 case brought shock and encouraged the passing of tougher laws for these types of youthful offenders and changing the age in which they can be incarcerated. It is hoped that these horrific events do not signal a deeply growing social dysfunction in a country that for many years has been proud of its low crime status.

Sources include:

1.Newsday.com Report: Japan Teen Beheads Mother by Hans Greimel, an Associated Press Writer
2. msnbc and Reuters: Japan Police: Boy Suspected of Beheading Mom
3. BBC: Japan's crime rate soars