A restraining order failed to stop a stalking murder... Japan weighs Korean-style “electronic ankle monitors”

【Financial News, Tokyo = Correspondent Seo Hye-jin】 Japan is moving ahead with a serious review of a plan to fit stalking offenders with location-tracking devices. Following a case in which a man subject to a restraining order killed his victim, Japan aims to establish a system to monitor offenders’ proximity in real time. The challenge will be to draw on examples from Korea and Europe while deciding who should be required to wear a device and how alerts can be turned into actual victim protection.
According to the Asahi Shimbun on the 16th, Japan’s National Police Agency announced the previous day that it would establish an expert panel to discuss fitting stalking offenders with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, among other measures. It plans to hold its first meeting on the 19th and pursue amendments to the Stalker Regulation Act based on the panel’s findings. It will also consider making treatment and counseling mandatory for offenders.
The discussion was prompted by the murder of a female employee at Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, in March this year. The male suspect, who had been her former partner, had previously been arrested on suspicion of violating the Stalker Regulation Act, among other offenses, and had also received a restraining order. However, he was released after being summarily indicted and refused treatment and counseling recommended by police. Existing measures—prohibiting contact and encouraging voluntary treatment—failed to prevent the crime.
Reports of stalking and restraining orders are on the rise. According to Japan’s National Police Agency, there were 22,881 stalking consultations last year, up 16.9% from the year before. Restraining orders, including orders prohibiting contact, totaled 3,037, a 25.8% increase and a record high.
By contrast, only 147 offenders followed recommendations to seek treatment or counseling. Police encourage everyone subject to a restraining order to participate, but the actual participation rate was less than 10% of the total.
Korea, whose system Japan is using as a reference, monitors offenders’ approaches to victims by fitting stalking offenders with location-tracking electronic devices. In particular, a system for fitting offenders with electronic devices alongside provisional restraining measures before a conviction is finalized took effect on January 12, 2024. It checks in real time whether an offender is approaching and notifies the victim of the offender’s location. 
According to the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s National Police Agency said that no murders by stalking offenders wearing the devices had occurred in Korea, and assessed that “they appear to have had some effect in preventing harm to victims.” This assessment concerns the system targeting stalking; it does not mean that Korea’s electronic ankle-monitor system as a whole has prevented crimes.
There have been cases in Korea of people committing murder despite wearing electronic ankle monitors. In 2021, Kang Yoon-sung killed two women before and after tampering with his ankle monitor. Although the case involved a different group from those covered by the stalking proximity-monitoring system, it highlights the limits of relying on a location-tracking device alone to prevent crime. 
Korea’s Ministry of Justice also announced late last year that it would pursue linking its location-tracking system with the National Police Agency’s 112 system to improve the effectiveness of electronic monitoring for stalking offenders. The measure aims to connect the Ministry of Justice’s proximity monitoring with police responses at the scene. 
The people required to wear devices and the scope of information sharing are also key issues in designing Japan’s system. The National Police Agency has proposed limiting coverage to high-risk offenders who have received restraining orders. It is considering the period and method of device attachment, and whether police, as well as victims, should be able to access location information.
The expert panel will include specialists in constitutional law, criminal policy, and psychiatry, as well as families of victims of stalking murders. The system’s effectiveness is expected to depend on how specifically it sets out standards for restricting offenders’ rights while ensuring victims’ safety, and procedures for responding on the ground.

[email protected] Seo Hye-jin Reporter