By Daigo Sawano
Police arrested three 14-year-old boys and one 13-year-old boy was referred to juvenile welfare authorities on suspicion of beating Kunihiko Suzuki, a 55-year-old homeless man, to death in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, on January 25th. After a few days, police arrested two more 17-year-old students on suspicion they were part of a pack of the rampaging teens. According to police sources, the teens were apparently incensed that Suzuki had asked them to be quieter in a public library the day before, and the next day they gathered to carry out their attack. They were terrified and turned themselves in to the police when they heard about Suzuki's death. But police decided to reject their surrender because they had already been searching for the murderers of Suzuki.
During the investigation by police the boys stated, "I paid him back for his scolding," "I beat him because he wouldn't apologize," and, "The others beat him, and made me hit him while I knew it was wrong." So, they attacked Suzuki just because he scolded them. It was too rash and stupid an act to attack and murder Suzuki.
It seems they were humiliated to be scolded by a homeless man. This incident may have occurred because the victim was homeless. It made them angrier that someone they always looked down scolded them. It was not difficult to imagine that they thought Suzuki was worth beating because he was homeless. Prejudice and spite toward the unfortunate caused this incident and this leads to the complex question of what has happened to children's conscience.
In this case, it is possible that the 14-year-old and older suspects will receive criminal punishment because the Juvenile law was revised to a lower the age for criminal responsibility to include 14-year-olds. Hard punishments for Juvenile delinquents aren't necessarily proper. But their behavior is worthy of severe punishment because we must deal with the break down of morals.
In Japan, the mass media tends to focus on the school the children belong to when juvenile delinquency occurs. In this case, the mass media went to interview the principal of the school where the boys went. But it is wrong because children cultivate basic morals in their homes. So we have to reconsider the function of the home, the community and schools without being swayed by the mass media.
This incident gives us an opportunity to improve communities, including home and schools, which cannot educate and admonish children. The boys who beat Suzuki to death have never been scolded by their parents. The parents are afraid that their children will hate them if scolded, and they loose themselves in pushing their children to enter good schools. Such feelings paralyze the function of home as a place which molds children's morals. Parents have to appreciate the function of home and learn how to train their children.
Children are mirrors that reflect the good and bad aspects of society. In this case, prejudice of society─including the home, community and school toward the homeless─warped the boy's conscience. We must have a society where adults show the correct role model to children. If we don't do that, juvenile delinquency will never disappear.