Editorial: Police must answer for inert response before stalking victim's murder in Japan
Why were authorities unable to protect the life of a woman who repeatedly complained of being stalked? The police must identify problems in their handling of the case.
The body of the 20-year-old woman was found at the home of a 27-year-old man in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, who she had been dating. The man has been arrested on suspicion of abandoning her corpse.
Since last June, the woman and her family had repeatedly contacted police with claims the man had physically assaulted and followed her. The police have said they took all the necessary steps, but we can't help but doubt that claim.
The man was verbally warned, but police did not issue a restraining order or an official warning under the anti-stalking law. They explained that the victim had not wished for these steps and noted that she and the man had sometimes rekindled their relationship. However, victims' words and behavior can waver due to threats or their emotions. The situation required a fine-tuned response, taking the woman's emotional state into consideration.
Of particular concern is how police were unable to ensure the woman's safety despite receiving nine consultations by phone over a period of 12 days immediately before she went missing last December. It was reported that the man had been lurking near her home, but she was simply told not to go outside.
Also problematic is the fact that it took over four months for police to search the man's home. Right after the woman went missing, it was confirmed through reports from her family that a window of a house she had evacuated to was broken.
Even though the suspect admitted to going to see the victim on the day she went missing, police did not immediately proceed with a forced search of his home.
Clearly, Kanagawa Prefectural Police did not respond sufficiently. They may have lacked awareness of the gravity of the stalking, and they bear a heavy responsibility for failing to protect the victim.
The Anti-Stalking Act was created in the wake of the murder of a woman who had been stalked in the city of Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, in 1999. However, there has been no shortage of cases in which police were aware of the damage, yet the situation turned disastrous. Thirteen years ago in Kanagawa Prefecture, a woman was murdered by a former partner in the city of Zushi.
Aside from breaching a person's human rights, stalking also can be life-threatening. This awareness should be thoroughly instilled within police forces across Japan, and their approach should be reviewed.
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