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Spring

To create a society in which sexual abuse survivors can live more comfortably.

No decisions about us without us!

In Japan, only 1.4% of rape victims report to the police. 55.7% of them cannot talk to anybody about the victimization. (Cabinet Office, 2023)
Many victims have been silenced, and the sexual violence has been treated as if it did not actually happen.That is the reality of sexual violence in Japan.

Victims of sexual violence raised their voices to change this reality, and in June 2017, part of the Japanese sex crime law was revised.
This 2017 amendment to the criminal law was a major step forward. However, there were still many problems that remained with the newly revised law.

For example, 

• There was no provision to punish nonconsensual sexual acts. Due to the legal requirements (*), forcible and quasi-forcible sexual intercourse would not be punished unless there was an act of violence or intimidation that makes the victims unable to resist their perpetrators. (* Victims must prove that there was an act of violence or intimidation, and that they were unable to resist.) 
• There was no provision to punish sexual acts that take advantage of a power imbalance in a relationship
• The age of consent for sexual intercourse was low at less than 13 years
• The statute of limitations for crimes such as forced sexual intercourse was as short as 10 years. 

It is surprising that the legal requirements of “assault or threat” and “inability to resist” were established in 1907 and had not changed in the 110 years since its enactment.  (Astonishingly, until then, the penalty for “rape” had been lighter than “robbery” in the original Japanese law!)

At that time, voices are raised by victims’ support groups that had been active for several years, medical professionals who care for victims, officials in the judiciary, people in the media who report on sexual violence, citizens concerned about sexual violence, and survivors. They pushed the government to take action.

Then, in June 2023, the criminal law was amended again as follows.
However, even after the amendments, there are still shortcomings in the law.

Issue #1 —A “yes-means-yes” type penal provision needs to be introduced (i.e., those who engage in sexual activity without confirming the other person’s consent will be punished). 

Here are two recent court decisions on cases of sexual violence in Japan.

The first case is a so-called “insensitive” judgment.
A 59-year-old sports trainer was charged with forcible sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old student after taking advantage of her inability to resist. While the court found that the victim “clearly had significant difficulty in showing rejection or resisting the accused due to intense mental confusion”, the defendant was judged to “lack the ability or empathy to understand the psychology of women and the feelings of so-called vulnerable people, including victims of sexual crimes, and rather falls into the category of insensitivity”. Therefore, the defendant was found not to have committed the crime intentionally, and was therefore acquitted.

The second case is a so-called “common sense” judgment.
A 44-year-old man was charged with forcible sexual intercourse after he approached a 25-year-old woman he had never met before in a convenience store car park at 2 am and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him without her consent, causing her mouth to be injured for approximately two weeks. The judge acknowledged that the man had assaulted the victim, causing her to go blank and unable to resist, but found that it was “questionable as a matter of common sense” whether he was aware that she was unable to resist. The defendant was therefore acquitted.

There are three things we would like to share with you here.

• Many victims of sexual violence freeze up and become unable to resist when faced with an assault.
• In Japan, the perpetrator is exempt from punishment if he or she claims to have “assumed consent” because they were “insensitive” and did not notice the above (1.), or because it is not known as “common sense” in society as a whole.
• That is why, in order to prevent the perpetration and damage of sexual violence, it is necessary to socially accept the concept that “No” is “No”, that silence is also “No”, and that only “Yes” in a relationship of equals is “Yes”.  We should introduce a yes-means-yes-type penal provision in which the perpetrator is obligated to clearly confirm the consent of the other party, and if they do not, they will be punished.

The requirements of “assault or threat” and “inability to resist” were reviewed and the name of the offense was changed from “forcible sexual intercourse” to “non-consensual sexual intercourse”. If a person makes it difficult to form, express or fulfill a “will not to consent”, or takes advantage of such a situation to engage in sexual activity, the person will be punished.

1. The age of sexual consent is raised to 16. Any sexual activity with a person under the age of 15 is punishable, even if consent is given. (If the other party is between the ages of 13 and 16 and the age difference is less than 5 years, the penalty will only apply in case 1.)
2. Penalties for sexual activity using influence based on economic and social status are established.
3. The statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual offenses is extended by five years and for non-consensual sexual intercourse is extended to 15 years.The statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual offenses against minors is effectively suspended until the age of 18, and public prosecution is possible until the age of 33.

Issue #2 — The statute of limitation.

Some victims take a long time to report their assaults because they were children and may not have recognized the damage or because they have lost their memory due to psychological trauma. However, even in the revised Criminal Procedure Code, the statute of limitations for nonconsensual sexual intercourse is only 15 years and for nonconsensual obscenity it is 12 years.

According to the online fact-finding survey questionnaire we conducted in 2020 (5,899 responses), of the 728 cases who had been sexually assaulted and said they had lost their memory of the assault, 181 cases, or approximately one in four, had lost their memory for 16 years or more.

The results of the questionnaire survey on the actual situation of sexual assault can be viewed here (Japanese only).

After the statute of limitations expires, victims lose the right to prosecute and cannot seek criminal sanctions.
Victims even lose the option to report the perpetrators.
The statute of limitations for sexual offenses must be abolished.

The supplementary provision of the revised law stipulates that “necessary surveys should be conducted on the actual situation of sexual victimization” to enable more empirical examination of “awareness about sexual consent” and “difficulties in reporting victimization”. This may lead to the introduction of a “yes-means-yes” type penal provision and further revisions of the statute of limitations on prosecution.

To change the current reality in Japan, Spring has been lobbying to solve these issues and to create laws based on the realities of sexual violence victimization.

What is Spring?

Spring is the first incorporated sexual assault survivors’ organization in Japan.

We are engaged in advocacy activities including optimizing the use of sex crime laws, as well as amendments to the law to make it as fair as possible to victims.

Spring is taking action to build a society where sexual assault survivors can find hope.
 Spring was established on July 7, 2017 in order to help sexual abuse survivors recover from their “frozen” condition and to help bring spring to those who are now living in the winter.

The message from Co-Executive Directors, Spring clicks　 here.

In June 2023, the second major revision of the sex crime laws provisions will be implemented! What we will be working on in the coming years are…

1. Closely monitor the operation of the new crime laws
Watch over whether perpetrators will be punished appropriately for non-consensual sexual intercourse, including the five-year age difference requirement for sexual consent and the newly added provision that punishes sexual acts that take advantage of status relationships.

2. Make ‘sexual consent’ a social standard towards a ‘Yes Means Yes’ approach
Make “sexual consent” a social standard and realize “Yes Means Yes” type legal provisions (those who engage in sexual acts without confirming the other person’s consent will be punished).

3. Seek further revision of the statute of limitations for prosecution
The crime law does not allow for prosecution after 15 years for non-consensual sexual intercourse and 12 years for non-consensual obscenity, which is not in line with the actual situation of victims. Calls on the government to conduct fact-finding surveys on those who have difficulty in reporting sexual violence.

4. Expand and raise awareness of trauma treatment systems
Aim for a society where victims can receive care and recovery support anywhere in the country, rather than leaving the burden of the enormous impact on their lives due to the trauma of sexual assault on the shoulders of individual victims.

Please support our activities!

In June 2023, the second major revision of the sex crime law was carried out. The law established the offence of non-consensual sexual intercourse, raised the age of sexual consent to 16 years old, and defined status-based sexual offences, but significant challenges remain regarding the statute of limitations for prosecution.

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