Almost 75 percent of professionals recently polled feel a new domestic violence law enacted in October is ineffective, primarily due to poor governmental efforts to educate the public about it, the Cabinet Office said.
The survey found that 73.2 percent of respondents felt the government's approach to quelling domestic violence was inadequate, with almost all citing public ignorance of the law's powers as a key factor.
Some 62.3 percent of the respondents recommended that various domestic-violence consultation centers be better utilized, while 56.3 percent said psychological abuse should also be covered by the law.
The survey, begun in late January, was conducted in questionnaire form over a period of about one month. Of the 5,000 members of the media, academia, and judiciary fields who were sent questionnaires, 58.4 percent responded.
The new law requires state and local authorities to prevent domestic violence and protect its victims. It allows district courts to impose six-month restraining orders and to force perpetrators to vacate their homes for two weeks.