Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday January 31 2019, @06:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the three-hots-and-a-cot dept.

Jail is not top of most people's bucket list of places to visit, but for some it is becoming increasingly attractive. I had heard anecdotal stories of homeless in the UK committing petty crimes in the hope of being given a warm bed and a meal, but in Japan it seems that the elderly are taking things to a whole new level:

Japan is in the grip of an elderly crime wave - the proportion of crimes committed by people over the age of 65 has been steadily increasing for 20 years. The BBC's Ed Butler asks why.

At a halfway house in Hiroshima - for criminals who are being released from jail back into the community - 69-year-old Toshio Takata tells me he broke the law because he was poor. He wanted somewhere to live free of charge, even if it was behind bars.

"I reached pension age and then I ran out of money. So it occurred to me - perhaps I could live for free if I lived in jail," he says.

"So I took a bicycle and rode it to the police station and told the guy there: 'Look, I took this.'"

The plan worked. This was Toshio's first offence, committed when he was 62, but Japanese courts treat petty theft seriously, so it was enough to get him a one-year sentence.

Small, slender, and with a tendency to giggle, Toshio looks nothing like a habitual criminal, much less someone who'd threaten women with knives. But after he was released from his first sentence, that's exactly what he did.

"I went to a park and just threatened them. I wasn't intending to do any harm. I just showed the knife to them hoping one of them would call the police. One did."

Altogether, Toshio has spent half of the last eight years in jail.

I ask him if he likes being in prison, and he points out an additional financial upside - his pension continues to be paid even while he's inside.

"It's not that I like it but I can stay there for free," he says. "And when I get out I have saved some money. So it is not that painful."

Toshio represents a striking trend in Japanese crime. In a remarkably law-abiding society, a rapidly growing proportion of crimes is carried about by over-65s. In 1997 this age group accounted for about one in 20 convictions but 20 years later the figure had grown to more than one in five - a rate that far outstrips the growth of the over-65s as a proportion of the population (though they now make up more than a quarter of the total).

To my mind, there is something wrong with the way we take care of the elderly or those who are significantly poorer than the average when their most attractive option is jail.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @08:16PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @08:16PM (#794682)

    Once again Azuma Hazuki sacrifices her own mental health to argue with a paid shill.
    Good work.👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Redundant=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Redundant' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 01 2019, @06:45AM (3 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday February 01 2019, @06:45AM (#794905) Journal

    Aww, you care about me :) Don't worry, that didn't abuse my SAN score hardly at all; I've seen such awful things that some random pissant on the intertubes doesn't even register. Again, my flaming retorts are for the benefit of anyone who might come by, see that giant floating Baby Ruth in the meme pool, and think "ya know he's got a point, I should take a bite of that..."

    Think of it as a profane, area-of-effect noetic vaccination program if that helps.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:08PM (2 children)

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:08PM (#795390)

      Ok, it's driving me nuts and Googly Goggles ain't helping.
      What is a "SAN Score?"

      Being old as dirt, it's likely yet another modern term I'm unfamiliar with, groovy man.

      We have SPODIE's on my lawn, all are welcome!

      --
      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 02 2019, @05:22PM (1 child)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 02 2019, @05:22PM (#795432) Journal

        Short for Sanity, in the vein of INT, WIS, and so on from tabletop games. I've never actually played any of them, but this one is from Call of Cthulhu, where having a separate Sanity variable makes a certain kind of sense.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday February 02 2019, @08:37PM

          by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Saturday February 02 2019, @08:37PM (#795464)

          Ah, in my youth I played a lot of D&D and Axis and Allies, but never Call of Cthulhu.
          Thanks, it seems obvious in retrospect.

          Peace out!!

          --
          Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.