Coin-operated-locker babies

Coin-operated-locker babies or coin-locker babies (Japanese: コインロッカーベイビー, romanized: koinrokkābeibī, lit. 'coin locker baby') are victims of child abuse that have occurred in Japan, in which infants are left in public lockers. There are two main variables that account for the differences in frequency and the type of these child abuse cases: social and economical. Predominantly affecting newborns and male babies, the murder of infants became a form of population control in Japan, being discovered 1–3 months after death, wrapped in plastic and appearing to have died of asphyxiation. The presumption is that such lockers are regularly checked by attendants and the infant will be found quickly; however, most are found dead. Between 1980 and 1990, there were 191 reported cases of infants which died in coin-operated lockers, which made up about 6 percent of all infanticides in the decade.

Hydrostatic lung tests, stomach and bowel tests can be performed by medical examiners or forensic pathologists, but the specific cause of death is often difficult to ascertain due to decomposition. In Japan, if a baby is determined to have been born alive, the mother is charged with homicide and the abandonment of a corpse. However, if the baby is proven to have been stillborn, the mother is charged only with the abandonment of a corpse. If the mother of the baby is discovered, she is rarely sentenced because she is considered to have been in a mentally unstable situation during and after the pregnancy. The grounds for this judgment have a historical precedent.

The regional government of Osaka organized a group dealing with the detection and protection of abused and neglected children. In 1993, a manual regarding child abuse was published, but the national Japanese judicial administration still uses old laws for child abuse cases.

In response to certain actions, in 1981, the number of cases began to decrease. These actions included the relocation of coin-lockers to make them more visible, with additional patrol assigned to monitor the locker locations. Further, the publication of the term and problem led to the recognition by the general public in Japan, leading to stronger education about contraception to decrease the number of unwanted babies. Though the Osaka government organized group created programs, such as Baby Hatch, this is still a prevalent issue in Japan. In Kumamoto prefecture, Jikei hospital’s baby hatch program, "Konotori no yurikago" ("Stork's Cradle"), modeled after German Babyklappen, was said to encourage child abandonment after news that a three-year-old child was left on the first day of operation on May 10, 2007, increasing criticism of the program.

An adoption system proposed by Noboru Kikuta that protected the biological mothers' records of child birth and adoption had also been proposed but was not recognized in the special adoption system in 1987.

During the 1970s, reported cases of coin-locker babies increased along with other news of maternal filicide. The women’s liberation movement, ūman ribu, was concerned with the biased treatment against criminalized mothers and criticized Japan’s family institution. Maternal filicide was interpreted as a violent reaction against being forced into socially accepted spousal and maternal roles.