JCP proposes reasonable measures on treatment of mentally ill people who committed serious crimes

The Japanese Communist Party published a view and proposal entitled "For a reasonable and publicly acceptable system on treatment of people with mental disorders who committed serious crimes."

Fudesaka Hideyo, JCP Policy Commission chair, announced this on May 30 at a press conference in the Diet building.

What kind of treatment is necessary for the people who committed serious crimes under unhealthy mental conditions is a big concern of the public. The government has submitted a bill to the current Diet session for a new system to be established to deal with this question.

Under Japan's criminal law, those who committed serious crimes are not penalized if they are identified as "not of sound mind" and their penalties are reduced if they are determined as "weak-minded."

Murderers or other atrocious offenders, who are classified as "not of sound mind" or "weak-minded," are acquitted or found not guilty and sent to a mental hospital.

Due to a very low level of medical services for mental illness in Japan, they are locked up in hospitals for many years without appropriate treatment or forced to leave the hospital even though they are not completely cured. Those who are set free from hospitals sometimes commit crimes again.

Leaving such a situation unchanged will only mean tragedy for both offenders and victims of crimes, said Fudesaka.

The JCP proposed that the present system be fundamentally reviewed and made better so that those people can get appropriate medical treatment and then return to society if deemed fit.

As concrete steps, the JCP called for an improvement of the medical services for mental illness and the care system in local communities to help mentally ill people who committed crimes get sufficient care medically and in their daily life in order to resume their place in society. At the same time, the JCP pointed out the need to eliminate ordinary people's anxieties about mentally ill people.

The JCP also proposed the establishment of a group trial system in which a judge, a doctor, and a psychiatrist participate so that the treatment of the offenders are not decided only by doctors. (end)