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| Ohuchi's picture in school album |
A news magazine has defied a ban on identifying minors in
criminal cases by naming a 19-year-old, Ohuchi Maria, who allegedly bludgeoned
an elderly woman to death.
Tokyo-based weekly Shukan Shincho on Thursday ran an
in-depth article about the Nagoya University student, urging a national
debate on the reporting of juvenile crime.
Headlined “Evil nurtured within the heart of the Nagoya
University female student; the resume of a 19-year-old killer of an
elderly woman,” the four-page article named the suspect, printed two
photographs of her and quoted people who had known her in childhood.
Article 61 of the juvenile law bans the reporting of
information or images that enable the identification of alleged or
convicted criminals who are still in their teens or younger, including
name, occupation and appearance.
In a statement on Thursday, Shukan Shincho said it had
decided to provide the details “in consideration of various factors,
including the severity of this incident and its impact, as well as the
age of the assailant.” The restriction ceases to apply once juveniles
reach 20, the age of adulthood.
The magazine cited a judgment by the Osaka High Court in
February 2000 that ruled that running a minor’s name is “not illegal” in
serious cases that draw substantial public attention.
However, some analysts say the magazine clearly broke the
law. Naming the alleged culprit and printing her image is an “obvious
violation of Article 61,” said lawyer Takehisa Hamada, who specializes
in juvenile law.
He said the magazine was trying to justify its actions on
the implied assertion that a girl of 19 will not change her ways,
whereas a younger child may. This, Hamada said, is “unacceptable.”
The magazine chose to run two images of the girl, one in a
high school uniform and one showing her in a jacket typically worn by
male cheerleaders at sports events. Both clearly showed her face from
the front.
It reported that in childhood she had shown “outrageous”
psychotic tendencies, quoting the father of a childhood friend as saying
the girl used to carry around a pair of scissors while in junior high
school to “stab someone if attacked.” It also quoted a resident as
saying the bodies of dead cats were regularly found around her house.
The student was arrested on Jan. 27 on suspicion of killing
77-year-old Tomoko Mori, a member of a religious group who had tried to
recruit her.
AFP
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