Japan has long been known for its prevalent respect for its elderly. In fact, Japan has the largest population over 65 years old, at an astonishing 27%. Even more surprising is the high recidivism rates among elderly citizens in Japan. According to Japan’s white paper on crime, the percentage of elderly people that returned to prison remained unchanged at 48.7% from last year. The number of women currently imprisoned at age 70 or older is roughly 12 times greater than it was 20 years ago. Of those who were indicted for crimes last year, 21.5% were 65 years of age or older during their first offense. The striking thing about these senior citizens who spend time in prison is their high recurrence rate compared to younger prisoners. Roughly 42% of the elderly males were sent to jail six times or more, while 32% were jailed 2-5 times. People serving prison sentences often face difficulty finding work after returning to their communities, and seniors are no different.
The Japanese government aims to reduce the number of people returning to jail within two years of their release to 16% or lower by 2021. This is a bold ambition and it cannot be achieved without serious efforts to reduce the problem of recidivism amongst the elderly Japanese.
Many seniors lose contact with their family and social circles after being incarcerated, so community support and rehabilitative therapy is imperative to help them reintegrate into their communities. TRACKTech™ provides a convenient and streamlined way to monitor a program member’s activity and behavior and can provide them with timely and situation-specific therapeutic material, assist with finding employment if they are below the required retirement age of 65, and maintain a community support system which is necessary to ensure rehabilitative success. Recidivism is an international dilemma, but strides can be made to lessen the hardships and isolation an elderly person faces when they are released back into their community.