The legal revisions should motivate young people to think about themselves as adults and actively take part in society.
The government adopted a bill at a Cabinet meeting to amend the Civil Code, designed to lower the adult age from 20 to 18. With the revision, the legal age for marriage will be unified at 18 for both men and women. The government aims to have the bill passed into law during the ongoing ordinary session of the Diet and come into force in April 2022.
This represents a change in the legal age of adulthood, which has taken hold in our society over the about 140 years since the Meiji era. As many as 22 related laws will be amended together with the Civil Code. Life in society is expected to be affected greatly. The about four years up to the enforcement of the revised laws are allotted to ensure that the general public is fully aware of the change.
The Diet must discuss certain measures so as not to cause turmoil through the change.
It is also a fact that many people have expressed misgivings about lowering the age of adulthood. According to a public opinion survey taken by The Yomiuri Shimbun in 2016, more than 60 percent opposed lowering the adult age.
In addition to Britain, France and most of the states in the United States, such countries as Russia and China have set the adult age at 18. "Coming of age at 18" can be viewed as a mainstream concept throughout the world.
In Japan, too, the voting age has already been lowered to 18. With the lowering of the adult age, the social responsibility of people aged 18 and 19 will become greater than before.
Further efforts should be made at schools and other institutions to make young people more aware of themselves as contributing members of society, including education to understand the meaning of their sovereignty.
Consumer education needed
The ban on drinking, smoking and publicly controlled gambling -- such as horse racing -- by people under 20 is to be maintained. Some people felt that as long as they were considered adults, they should decide for themselves, but concerns cannot be ignored, as some people have pointed out, that the lifting of such prohibitions would encourage delinquency among young people.
It is said that the earlier people start drinking or smoking, the greater the health risks they face in later life. It can be regarded as an appropriate decision to leave the ban on such acts by people under 20.
As the age of adulthood is lowered, 18- and 19-year-olds will be able to take out loans and have credit cards without their parents' consent. There is also the danger of their becoming a target of unscrupulous business practices.
The government plans to amend the Consumer Contract Law to expand the scope to cancel contracts. This expanded coverage will apply to such confidence tricks as romantic scams, to which many young people have fallen victim. Consumer education designed to enhance consumers' ability to judge is also vital.
Regarding the age of minors covered by the Juvenile Law, discussion continues at the Legislative Council. It would be a natural trend of events for the age to be lowered from under 20 to under 18, in line with the lowering of the adult age. The present Juvenile Law also allows the application of the death penalty to 18- and 19-year-olds.
When the age of minors covered by the Juvenile Law is lowered, the handling of 18- and 19-year-olds who have committed relatively minor misdemeanors is to be considered. If they are given a financial penalty or a suspended sentence, they will end up returning to society, deprived of an opportunity to receive rehabilitative education at juvenile reformatories or elsewhere.
From the viewpoint of preventing these people from committing crimes again, a new institutional system will be necessary.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 14, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
