Future of youth justice in Japan

Suzuki, M ORCiD: 0000-0002-7925-2141Japanese youth justice has experienced several reforms to date. Currently, a radical revision is under consideration: to lower the age of criminal majority from 20 to 18 years. Japanese scholars and practitioners have since been engaged in debates over this proposal. Drawing on existing empirical research on youth offending and juvenile justice, the purpose of this article is to advance a critical analysis on (in)appropriateness of lowering the age of criminal majority. By focusing on its potential consequences, we also discuss what the future of youth justice in Japan would look like. We conclude with offering research implications

Regulation of P2X7 gene transcription

The pro-apoptotic P2X7 receptor regulates growth of epithelial cells. The objectives of the study were to understand P2X7 gene transcription; to identify the active promoter and the transcription initiation site (TpIS); and to begin understanding regulation of P2X7 gene transcription. Experiments in vitro utilized normal and cancerous cultured human uterine cervical epithelial cells, and HEK293 cells overexpressing P2X7-luciferase reporters. Experiments in vivo used surgical specimen of normal and cancerous uterine cervix. Assays involved DNA, RNA, and protein techniques. (a) The P2X7 TpIS was localized to adenine (+1) at nt 1683 of the human P2X7 gene [GenBank Y12851]), with a TTAAA sequence at nt −32/−28 and an active promoter region within nt −158/+32. (b) P2X7 transcription was found to be regulated by two enhancers located at nt + 222/+232 and +401/+573 regions downstream of the active P2X7 promoter. (c) The putative enhancer regions formed four DNA–protein complexes. (d) P2X7 transcription was found to be controlled by hypermethylated cytosines at cytosine-phosphodiester-guanosines (CpG) that cluster or co-localize with the enhancers’ sites. (e) We identified nine CpGs as inhibitory cis elements, and three CpG sites that are hypermethylated in cultured cervical epithelial cells and in cervix epithelia in vivo. (f) In cancer cervical cells, the degree of hypermethylation of the CpG sites was greater than in the normal cervical cells. Expression of the P2X7 receptor is controlled by hypermethylated CpGs that flank transcription enhancers located within a 547-nt region downstream of the promoter