New legislation for offenders with mental disorders in Japan.

This article describes the recent law reform on forensic mental health and its background in Japan, focusing on the enactment of the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act in 2005. The new system-under which a person who commits a serious criminal offence in a state of insanity or diminished responsibility shall be referred by the public prosecutor to the District Court-aims to provide intensive psychiatric treatment to offenders with mental disorders, attaching great importance to their reintegration into society. The court panel, which consists of a judge and a specially qualified psychiatrist, plays a key role in the treatment procedure. Upon the agreement of the two panel members, the panel delivers a verdict that takes into account the outcome of psychiatric evaluation; possible verdicts are inpatient treatment order, outpatient treatment order (mental health supervision), and no treatment order. Designated facilities are currently being established for inpatient and outpatient treatment. Referring to the published data on outcomes of enforcement, this article discusses particularities, current problems, and future prospects of the system, drawing comparisons between the German and Japanese systems.

Deliberate self-harm and childhood hyperactivity in junior high school students.

The present study aimed to explore the status of deliberate self-harm (DSH) among junior high-school students, and investigate the relationship between DSH and substance use and childhood hyperactivity. Subjects were 239 boys (mean age = 14.16 years, SD = 0.67) and 238 girls (14.22, 0.68) from a junior high-school in Kanagawa, Japan. A self-reporting questionnaire consisting of original questions on self-cutting, self-hitting, and tobacco and alcohol use was employed with the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) for assessing childhood hyperactivity. Overall, 8.00% and 27.70% of males and 9.30% and 12.20% of females reported self-cutting and self-hitting, respectively. Regarding substance use, 33.10% and 74.10% of males and 14.30% and 63.40% of females reported tobacco and alcohol use, respectively. Comparisons of WURS scores between those with and without experience of problematic behaviors revealed that with all problematic behaviors in both genders, scores of those with experience were significantly higher than those without (P < 0.01 except for self-cutting in females, P < 0.05). The present study indicated that DSH is an important problem, even among children as young as junior high-school age. An association between DSH and childhood hyperactivity was also suggested.