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 often occurring 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, many children are found dead. Between 1980 and 1990, there were 191 reported cases of infants which died in coin-operated lockers, which represents about six percent of all infanticides during that period.

Hydrostatic lung tests, stomach and bowel tests can be performed by medical examiners or forensic pathologists, but months after death it may be impossible to ascertain the cause of death because of decomposition. In Japan, if a baby is determined to have been born alive, the mother is investigated on charges of homicide and abandonment of a corpse. However, if the dead baby is proven to have been stillborn, the mother is investigated on a charge of abandonment. If the assailant is discovered, she is rarely sentenced because she is considered to have been in a mentally unusual situation during and after the pregnancy. The grounds for this judgment have a historical precedent.

Osaka's government organized a group specifically designed to deal with the detection and protection of abused and neglected children. In 1993, they published a manual on how to deal with child abuse, but the Japanese judicial administration still uses old laws for 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. They interpreted maternal filicide as a violent reaction against being forced into socially accepted spousal and maternal roles.