But just what prompts criminals to commit these atrocious crimes? One trend that
seems to be surfacing among the perpetrators, the magazine warns, is increasing
immaturity that has left criminals clueless when it comes to building normal
relationships with those around them.
In one incident in 2004 a 28-year-old man dragged a first-year junior high
school girl into his home In Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, with the intention of
molesting her, and then killed her. In court, public prosecutors brought up the
man's relationships.
"He was unable to build close friendships with those around him and he never
became familiar with the opposite sex. Up until the time of the crime he had
never had a relationship with a woman," a prosecutor told the court.
The man's mother had divorced and got into a relationship with another man, and
a girl he had liked at high school reportedly married a guy he hated.
Prosecutors argued that he had come to hold general distrust against adult
women, and turned young girls into sex objects as a result.
Akira Sakuta, a professor in criminal psychology at Seigakuin University, tells
Sunday Mainichi that pedophilia can be classed into two categories -- that in
which the person sees only children as objects, and that in which the person
sees children as an alternative to women.
Kaoru Kobayashi, the 37-year-old man held over the killing of a 7-year-old
schoolgirl in Nara Prefecture in 2004, had reportedly lived with a woman and
visited sex shops. Tsutomu Miyazaki, 43, another accused killer held for
murdering four young girls, also reportedly had an interest in adult women.
Sakuta says criminals may approach girls because they are easy to talk to at
first. But because the criminals lack maturity and can't form a sexual
relationship with adults, they gradually turn their carnal desires toward these
girls. The lack of confidence in these criminals to form normal relationships
is probably a sign of their immaturity, Sakuta says.
Masaaki Noda, a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University, blames cell phones for
increasing immaturity, telling the weekly magazine they have destroyed real
communication. People think they are "connected" with others when they send
simple cell-phone e-mails to them asking them what they are doing or if they
have performed routine activities. But they are really avoiding real
communication and the friction that comes with it, he says.
These people can end up living in a world without friction, simply putting up
with situations instead of negotiating. When they finally crack, they think the
only option is to fulfil their desires, Noda says. In the case of criminals'
attacks against children, the criminals end up killing their victims in this
way, "without a fuss," he says.
Takao Morita, emeritus professor at Ochanomizu University, adds that the
Internet has left people with knowledge but without wisdom to guide it.
"That leads to crimes," he tells the weekly magazine. "It's important to have
an awareness of the price of convenience."
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