Self-mutilation. Plastic spherules in penile skin in yakuza, Japan's racketeers.

Despite the reduction in crime in Japan there is a problem with organized racketeer groups, or yakuza in Japanese. The members of the yakuza can be recognized by their speech and behavior and by their physical characteristics such as tattooing and digital amputations. Penile balls are unusual sexual devices that have been found on some yakuza. Nine cases of unusual way of identifying yakuza are reported. A survey of a detension house showed that 28 prisoners out of 130, or 21.5%, had penile balls. Penile balls and the yakuza are discussed in relation to forensic psychiatry.