Are Japanese Children Really Safe? - An Empirical Study of Child Victimization in Japan.

Recently, the necessity of community and urban planning aiming at preventing crimes against children is increasing rapidly in Japan. However, there is little empirical evidence that is used as the basis of concrete measures for child safety. This study aimed to identify actual conditions of living activities and crime victimizations of children through questionnaire survey that had been conducted in Kobe city, Hyogo prefecture in Japan. As a result of investigation for 2396 children and 1875 parents, the followings were indentified. a) Children were walking alone about a quarter of distances of children's whole walk actions, and they tended to walk in specific hours and areas. b) Crime victimizations of children were concentrated on the specific hours and areas. c) The hours and areas were not always covered by existing programs for child safety. These results suggested that it is necessary to consider characteristics of child activities in order to improve child safety effectively. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]