Japanese police alerted child welfare centers of a record-high 122,806 suspected abuse victims in 2023, up 6.1 percent from the previous year, amid growing concern and awareness about the abuse of minors, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
A record 2,385 criminal investigations into child abuse cases were conducted by police last year, up 9.4 percent from 2022, according to data compiled by the agency.
The number of children aged below 18 who were referred to child welfare centers over psychological abuse rose to a record-high 90,761, including 52,611 who witnessed domestic violence against family members.
Those who were physically abused numbered 21,520, while 10,205 children experienced neglect or abandonment and 320 suffered sexual abuse.
Among the cases that led to criminal investigations, 1,903 children were subjected to physical abuse, 372 suffered sexual abuse, 65 experienced psychological abuse and 45 were neglected or abandoned.
However, there was a record low of 28 child abuse-related deaths in 2023, significantly lower than the peak of 111 in 2006.
Meanwhile, stalking consultations in the country increased for the first time in six years to 19,843 cases.
Prohibition orders also hit a record high of 1,963, surpassing the number of initial warnings issued by police since the revised stalking control law took effect in 2017.
The legislative change enabled authorities to issue the more serious prohibition orders more quickly by allowing them to skip initial warnings.
Domestic violence consultations increased 4.9 percent from the previous year to 88,619 cases, with 70.5 percent of victims being women and 29.5 percent men.
The number of male domestic violence victims has increased yearly from 21.7 percent in 2019, which officials attribute to there being fewer hurdles to men making complaints.
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