Domestic Violence Counseling Center and Protection Facilities/Shelter (Nursing Facilities) 0.6 1.0 - Note: 1) Percentage was estimated given a weighting based on 426 people (respondents) victimized by violence of spouses 2) The share of request for help by each category <Source: The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family 「2016 National Study on Domestic Violence」> 30. The reason behind these female victims not resorting to the official support system could be attributed to their judgment that the support for victims or outcomes of proceedings does not guarantee de facto assistance or protection for them, not because their damages are not severe enough to be reported. According to the data from the Ministry of Justice and others, in 2016, indictment rates for domestic violence stands only at 8.5% and arrest rates only at 0.9%. 31. Recently, one domestic violence offender broke into a protective facility for victims of domestic violence, resulting in an involvement of the police. However, the police refused to isolate the offender citing the lack of a directly damaging act. In the end, facility workers blocked the view of the offender with a banner and evacuated all residents. As a result, discussions are continuing on problems of police responses to domestic violence and criminal and judicial measures to improve the situation of violence crimes against women. Above all, a better awareness of violence cases against women among the police and institutional and perceptional innovation to strengthen their job competencies is required. 32. Three major causes could be attributed to the tendency of non-punishment of crimes of domestic violence. First of all, domestic violence cases are forwarded as home protection cases based on the object clause 9 in the ‘Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Crimes of Domestic Violence’ (38.2% in 2016). Secondly, the introduction and enforcement of the ‘Suspension of Indictment on Condition of Counseling’ system in 2008 allows the assailants to 9 Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Crimes of Domestic Violence aims at “restoring the peace and stability of home wrecked by domestic violence and building a healthy home through probation of offenders to adjust the environment and correct their inclination of action.”