Defense Challenges Competence in Probation Officer Murder

Otsu, Shiga Pref., Feb. 17 (Jiji Press)–A 36-year-old Japanese man on Tuesday admitted to murdering a “hogoshi” private-sector volunteer probation officer in charge of him in 2024, while the defense for him argued that he is not mentally competent to bear responsibility for the crime. In the first hearing of his lay-judge trial at Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, the defendant, Kohei Iitsuka, said: “It’s true. I did it (the murder), following the voice of my guardian deity.” The defense claimed that the defendant was not mentally competent or was in a state of diminished capacity, saying that he was “under the control of the voice inside his head at the time.” The court is scheduled to hand down a sentence on March 2. According to the indictment, Iitsuka killed the probation officer, Hiroshi Shinjo, 60, by stabbing and slashing him in the neck and chest multiple times with a knife and an ax during an interview conducted at Shinjo’s house in Otsu, the capital of Shiga, on the night of May 24, 2024. Shinjo died from hemorrhagic shock. Prosecutors said in their opening statement that Iitsuka, who could not stick to jobs for a long time, started to think that the government was to blame for his failure to get a job and that he attempted to get revenge on the government by murdering the probation officer, thereby damaging the probation officer system. The prosecution added that the crime resulted from the defendant’s personality and that he is fully competent to bear responsibility for the murder. Meanwhile, the defense side said that Iitsuka began hearing voices in his head while he was in junior high school, including when he was bullied, and that he followed the instructions of what he called his “guardian deity.” In June 2019, Iitsuka was convicted of robbing a convenience store, with a finalized three-year prison sentence suspended for five years under probation. He had been scheduled to receive probation support from Shinjo until July 2024. The murder took place shortly before the end of the probation period. When he was arrested for the alleged murder, Iitsuka said, “I didn’t do it, and I don’t want to answer any questions,” according to investigative sources. After about five months of detention for psychiatric examination, Iitsuka was indicted in November 2024. According to the Justice Ministry, this was the first case in which a probation officer was murdered by a person under his or her support. The incident sent shock waves through the ranks of probation officers and others concerned. In a survey of about 16,000 probation officers conducted by the ministry after the murder, some 10 pct of the respondents said they felt anxiety, partly because their homes are used as venues for interviews with subjects under their support. Following the murder case, the revised probation officer law, which, among other things, requires the government to offer safe interview venues, was enacted in December last year. The measures in the revised law are set to enter into effect by December this year. Kazushige Harasawa, head of the Japan Hogoshi Federation, called the law amendment “a major step forward.” Still, he said measures to ensure the safety of probation officers may not be sufficient, saying that interviews tend to be held in closed settings for privacy protection even if public facilities are used. Chuo University professor Shoji Imafuku, former head of the Justice Ministry’s Rehabilitation Bureau, said that it is important to create a system allowing the ministry’s parole officers, who cooperate with private-sector probation officers, to engage more deeply in probation support activities. The government needs to take more measures such as increasing parole officers at the ministry, Imafuku said. Volunteer probation officers are unpaid part-time national public servants who assist in the rehabilitation of offenders and juvenile delinquents. According to the ministry, there were about 46,000 volunteer probation officers in Japan as of January last year, with an average age of 65.4. They regularly meet with people on probation and provide them with advice and assistance on life and work after their releases from prison. Challenges include the aging of current probation officers and recruiting new officers. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]