Authorities are "making final arrangements" for the provisional release of the 21-year-old offender, who was a 14-year-old middle-school student at the time of the killings in Kobe in 1997, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, citing unnamed Justice Ministry sources.

The incident started a national debate over how to deal with minors who commit serious crimes and culminated in a decision by lawmakers three years later to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14.

The perpetrator of the Kobe killings, whose name has never been made public, has been receiving psychiatric counseling and vocational training since October 1997 at two reformatories for juvenile offenders.

The report said the ministry has decided to issue a statement informing the public when the youth has been paroled because of the enormous "social impact" of the case.

Such a move would be a first in Japan, where legal proceedings involving juvenile offenders have long been kept secret to protect their identity.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 13, 2004
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