Four American teenagers, ages 15 to 18, were arrested in Japan for attempted murder.

     The 4 of them allegedly strung a rope between 2 poles causing a 23-year-old woman to be knocked off of her motorbike and suffer serious head injuries. Local police spotted the teenagers on a surveillance videotape which put them near the crash.

     All 4 teenagers are children of United States military personnel. This is not the first time such an incident has occurred on this base.

     In 1995, a 12-year-old was gang raped by 3 servicemen, who were all convicted. Japan and the United States are still negotiating the relocation of the station those men attended. In 2008, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped, but the accused marine was released after she dropped the charges. The Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, called the events, “unforgiveable… It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grace case.”

     According to CNN.com, “It is unclear what, if any, role the military can take in the case. The 1960 Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and Japan gives Japan jurisdiction over ‘the members of the United States armed forces, the civilian component, and their dependents’ in cases of offenses committed in Japan and punishable under Japanese law. The agreement also says the United States must cooperate in investigating such offenses.”

Sources:

www.nytimes.com

www.cnn.com