The Justice Ministry and National Police Agency said Friday they will launch a series of joint meetings next week involving lawyers, scholars and other outside experts to effectively cope with the problem of drunken and reckless driving.
The move stems from complaints from relatives of traffic accident victims, who say current laws are too lenient for crimes such as drunken driving and hit-and-run.
The joint meetings, starting Wednesday, will comprise two criminal law scholars, one administrative law scholar, two lawyers and two other experts and government officials, and take place every fortnight over the next few months.
The meetings will deliberate ways to toughen penalties against those who have killed others while driving recklessly or under the influence of alcohol, while also hearing opinions from the next of kin of victims and survivors of accidents.
More than 86 percent of drivers who have inflicted accidental injury on others have escaped prosecution. The meetings will also address this issue.
"After exchanging views at the meetings we'd like to refer the matter to the Legislative Council (an advisory panel body to the justice minister) and submit a proposed revision to the criminal law (to meet the demand for harsher penalties) to next year's ordinary Diet session," Komura told reporters after Friday's Cabinet meeting.
The ministry will send before April junior criminal-law scholars to Britain, United States, Germany, France and South Korea to study foreign legal systems.
The NPA also said Friday it dropped plans to attack harsher traffic penalties to the Road Traffic Law during the ongoing Diet session, as it would clash with the Justice Ministry's move to toughen the criminal law by including negligence resulting in death.