The Diet enacted a package of new juvenile crime laws on Friday that lowers the minimum age at which a child can be sent to a reformatory to "about 12."
According to Justice Minister Jinen Nagase, the ambiguous phrase "about 12" means that it will even be possible for a child of 11 to be sent to a reformatory.
The new legislation, which will take effect within six months, also allows police to conduct searches and seizures in the course of investigating juvenile crimes. Before the revision, police were only allowed to question delinquents.