# Crime and safety — Japanese laws in English — japanlaw.org

This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/crime. Every law, and how to address a provision: https://japanlaw.org/llms.txt. The same laws as MCP tools (no sign-in): https://japanlaw.org/mcp.

Japan's criminal law in English: the Penal Code and the Acts on stalking, domestic violence, hacking, secret filming, dangerous driving and money laundering.

- Crime and safety (刑事): 8 laws on this topic, each Act (法律) with the orders that go with it — Cabinet Orders (政令) and Ministerial Orders (省令) — listed beneath it, then the laws at home in another topic that this one lists too.
- Each law links to its page; its Markdown twin is the same path under /md. The descriptions are this site's own summaries, not the law's words.
- Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect.

## Laws

- [刑法 / Penal Code](https://japanlaw.org/en/penal-code): 明治四十年法律第四十五号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2026-05-21 · 301 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. The Penal Code sets out where it applies, what punishments there are, the general rules on when an act is a crime and who answers for it, and the crimes themselves with their penalties. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/penal-code
- [ストーカー行為等の規制等に関する法律 / Anti-Stalking Act](https://japanlaw.org/en/anti-stalking-act): 平成十二年法律第八十一号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2026-05-21 · 21 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. The law against stalking: it makes stalking a crime, lets the police warn, and the Public Safety Commission order to stop, a person who has made someone afraid through pursuit, etc. or location tracking, and sets out the help a person targeted can get. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/anti-stalking-act
- [配偶者からの暴力の防止及び被害者の保護等に関する法律 / Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims](https://japanlaw.org/en/spousal-violence-act): 平成十三年法律第三十一号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2026-06-24 · 44 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. Sets up help for people who suffer violence from a spouse or from a partner they live with — counselling and support centres, temporary protection, police help — and lets a district court order the abuser to stay away from them or to leave their shared home. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/spousal-violence-act
- [不正アクセス行為の禁止等に関する法律 / Act on Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access](https://japanlaw.org/en/unauthorized-computer-access-act): 平成十一年法律第百二十八号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2025-06-01 · 14 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. Makes it a crime to get into a computer over a network by entering someone else's identification code or by getting around its access control, bans obtaining, handing over and storing other people's codes and tricking people into entering theirs, and has the prefectural public safety commission (都道府県公安委員会) help computer operators who have been broken into. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/unauthorized-computer-access-act
- [性的な姿態を撮影する行為等の処罰及び押収物に記録された性的な姿態の影像に係る電磁的記録の消去等に関する法律 / Act on the Punishment of Acts of Photographing Sexual Poses, etc. and the Erasure, etc. of Electronic or Magnetic Records of Images of Sexual Poses Recorded on Seized Articles](https://japanlaw.org/en/sexual-image-filming-act): 令和五年法律第六十七号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2026-05-21 · 50 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. It punishes filming people's sexual body parts or sexual acts secretly or by other wrongful means, and sharing those images, lets copies of them be confiscated, and lets prosecutors erase such images held on seized items, to stop the harm from happening and spreading. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/sexual-image-filming-act
- [犯罪による収益の移転防止に関する法律 / Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds](https://japanlaw.org/en/criminal-proceeds-act): 平成十九年法律第二十二号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2026-08-12 · 40 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. To stop the proceeds of crime from being moved and hidden, it makes banks and the other businesses and professions it lists check who their customers are, keep records and report suspicious transactions, and it punishes trading in bank passbooks, cards and account details. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/criminal-proceeds-act
- [遺失物法 / Lost Property Act](https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act): 平成十八年法律第七十三号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2025-06-01 · 44 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. What someone who finds lost property must do with it, how the police and the occupants of facilities where things are found return it to the person who lost it, and who pays the costs, earns a reward and comes to own it. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/lost-property-act
- [自動車の運転により人を死傷させる行為等の処罰に関する法律 / Act on Punishment of Acts Inflicting Death or Injury on Others by Driving a Motor Vehicle, etc.](https://japanlaw.org/en/dangerous-driving-act): 平成二十五年法律第八十六号 · Act (法律) · text in force since 2026-07-21 · 6 articles in the main text · English: 100% of paragraphs. It sets the punishments for injuring or killing someone by driving a motor vehicle dangerously, under the influence of alcohol, drugs or illness, or carelessly, and heavier ones where the driver had no licence. Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/dangerous-driving-act

## Other topics

- [Work and employment (労働)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/work): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/work
- [Visas, residence and nationality (在留・国籍)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/immigration): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/immigration
- [Tax (税)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/tax): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/tax
- [Pensions, insurance and welfare (社会保障)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/social-security): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/social-security
- [Business and companies (会社・取引)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/business): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/business
- [Consumers and personal data (消費者・個人情報)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/consumers): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/consumers
- [Family, contracts and courts (民事)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/civil): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/civil
- [Housing and property (住まい・不動産)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/housing): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/housing
- [Driving and transport (交通)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/transport): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/transport
- [Constitution and government (憲法・行政)](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws/government): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws/government
- [Every law](https://japanlaw.org/en/laws): Markdown: https://japanlaw.org/md/en/laws