Part I General Provisions of the Penal Code Chapter VII Non-completion of Crimes and Reduction or Remission of Punishments Article 38
(Intentional) Article 38 [Acts with no intent to commit a crime are not punished. However, this shall not apply where there are special provisions in law. 2 A person who commits an act which should constitute a serious offense, but who does not know at the time of the act the fact that it would constitute such a serious offense, may not be punished by such a serious offense. 3 Even if the offender was ignorant of the law, it cannot be assumed that he/she did not intend to commit the crime. However, the sentence may be reduced according to the circumstances.
The “special provisions of the law” are, for example, these: (1)
Article 209 A person who injures a person by error shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred thousand yen or a fine.
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