Toshinobu TAKEDA (Professor, Faculty of Letters)
This unit aims to find ways that psychology can contribute in fields of justice and correction by focusing on areas such as psychiatry, developmental disability and ADHD, and will pursue this by a series of lectures and dialogues with specialists, workshops, and actual on-site training. Unit activities involve: (1) presenting the problems of outpatient treatment prescribed in the Act on Medical Care and Treatment for Persons Who Have Caused Serious Cases Under the Condition of Insanity and the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act (MTSA); (2) exploring neurofeedback treatment as a new treatment option; and (3) after the introduction of the new national qualification of certified public psychologist in the fall of 2018, building a program for psychology students to visit facilities involved in crime and correction.
Data analysis and presentation of findings at academic meetings and in journals are also planned for activities (1) and (3).
Shin-ichi ISHIZUKA (Professor, Faculty of Law)
Recent counter measures for drugs are trending towards coordination between justice, medicine, and welfare to support recovery within society, based on the implementation of Cabinet Office initiatives for a comprehensive policy of counter measures for drugs and counter measures for the prevention of recidivism, and increased activity by local government and private organizations. On the basis of more than 20 years of research into the drug problem, this unit aims to formulate new drug policy tailored to meet the circumstances of Japan’s drug problem, which involve addictive substances mainly consisting of stimulant drugs, and to promulgate and expand this policy to East Asian regions that share a similar societal and cultural environment to Japan.
Furthermore, based on the findings of prior investigative research into the drug problem, the overriding goals of this unit are to: (1) organize Drug Addition Recovery Supports (DARS); (2) spread the use of therapeutic justice in coordination with ATA-net; and (3) publish information on how the drug problem is tackled in Japan. This unit will also (4) organize After Prison Supports (APS) and investigate what kind of support is needed by people subject to long term imprisonment, and what kinds of programs can help their reintegration into society.
Yoshiyuki INOUE (Professor, Faculty of Law)
Although the history of religious preaching activities extends over 100 years in Japan, the continued profession of prison chaplains mainly depends on introductions from family members or within acquaintance circles, and there are concerns that this type of recruitment is not sustainable and will reach its limit at some point in the future. This recruitment problem can be explained by the current low level of recognition surrounding religious preaching activities in society. This unit also looks at the effects of legal reform on actual religious preaching activities on-site at correctional institutions, and the changes that arise from them. This is basic research aimed at improving the prominence of religious preaching activities. For 2019, based on prior research outcomes, the unit will continue the cycle of collection and analysis of relevant materials, and conduct investigations with a strong focus on soteriology intrinsic to religion. Specifically, this unit is planning to: (1) perform interview-based surveys of prison chaplains; (2) survey typical activities in other religions and religious sects; (3) publish research findings (hold public research workshops); and (4) prepare teaching materials to provide an outline of religious preaching activities in a lecture format.