This paper shows a broad difference in approach to youth justice between Japan and England. Japan uses existing forms of social control, making relatively small changes to the justice system, which is regarded as having been generally tried and tested over a long period. Japan also gives the new measures time to take effect before evaluating them. As Japanese administrators also seem to have much more control over their criminal justice system, new Japanese laws tend to have their intended effect. However, English legislators tend to react quickly to specific events or media pressure resulting in the production of over 60 major criminal justice acts since 1997. These laws are often brought in without full consultation before practitioners are required to implement them and without enough time for the training and resources to be properly made available. It has also been suggested that youth justice in England has been far more mixed and ambiguous than a straightforward success or failure. Despite similarities, there remain many differences in the way Japan and England respond to youth crime. These stem from their different criminal justice structures and the social environment within which they reside. One significant difference is the age group of juveniles. In Japan, all those under the age of 21 are considered juveniles in their formative years and still the responsibility of society. In England, the age of criminal responsibility is set at age 10, and those over 18 are dealt with in adult courts. Broadly concerned with those less than 21 years of age, this paper compares how Japan and England deal with the problem of juvenile offending. Tables, figures, notes, and references