'JUSTICE' JAPANESE STYLE

Sidebar Article 

*Falsely Accused in Japan*

-Hiroshi Yanagihara was falsley accused of rape and put in prison for 2 years.

     -After a rare retrial, Judge Satoshi Fujita stated, "I hope the rest of his life will be meaningful" after he was freed.

     -The judge seemed as if it was not his problem.

     -Yanagihara lost his job and his father who died alone while he was imprisoned.

     -Yanagihara was picked from a line up by one of the rape victims, because one of his co-workers at the taxi company contacted police and said that the artist's sketch

      resembled Yanagihara.

     -Even though there was lack of evidence, the police pressed Yanagihara for a confession.

     -Yanagihara had an alibi, there were no fingerprints found, and he wore shoes that were smaller than the footprints left behind by the rapist.

     -He was in custody for three days, and the police used a picture of his dead mother to shame him, and told him that she would want him to own up to the crime. 

      He then "confessed". 

     -He was freed only after the real rapist confessed.

  Hiroshi Yanagihara

-Takao Sugiyama spent 29 years in prison for a robbery and murder that he says he did not commit

     -He is now on a conditional release where he has to notify the police of any major life change, and will go to jail for life if he commits another crime.

     -Last year, he had to apply to both the justice and foreign ministries for permission to leave the country and speak at the United Nations in Geneva,

      Switzerland about the sentencing that took half of his life.

 Takao Sugiyama

-Jails, cells, and confessions

     -The U.N.'s Committee on Torture criticized Japan's treatment of people while under arrest.

     -They stated that suspects were being held in daiyo kangoku (substitute prisons) for extended periods.  These are supposed to be used as police-station cells where

      suspects are incarcerated while detectives question them.

     -Interrogations and detentions may last up to 23 days before habeus corpus can be in effect.  This shows that there is not a requirement before then to have suspects  

      brought in court to determine whether their detention is legal or not.

     -Signed forced confessions are known as the "king of evidence" in Japanese courts.

     -Defendants are found guilty in 99 percent of criminal trials in Japan.  In most of these cases, the defendant has confessed.

-The Japanese court system came under fire when 13 men and women were accused of rigging a local election.

     -There were pages and pages of detailed and fabricated confessions that were produced in court.

     -The judge referred to these as "marathon" interrogations and threw them out as he acquitted the defendants.

     -The politician, Shinichi Nakayama, was accused of paying voters with 1.91 million yen in cash and booze.

          -He said that he was tempted to confess when the chief detective said that his wife had owned up.

          -One detective told him that he would release his wife immediately if he confessed.

     -One defendant died during the time and one commited suicide.

     -Nakayama was awarded 12,500 yen for each day that he spent in jail.

     -One officer was fired, one had a three-month salary cut, and the chief of the station was only warned.

  Supporters after aquittal of 13 people falsely accused

-Lawyers

     -Use the term hitojichi shiho (hostage justice) to describe the Catch 22 faced by those arrested in Japan.

     -When individuals resist arrest, this demands confession.  When they deny charges, they will be kept in jail for long periods of time.  And a confession can bring a steady

      release.

     -Yoshihiro Yasuda, a Tokyo lawyer was arrested in 1998.  He was held for 300 days while he was tried on charges of concealing client's assets unlawfully.

          -Defended Shoko Asahara, leader of the cult Aum Shinrikyo.

          -During the Aum trial, Yasuda accused the police of not properly investigating the murder by Aum of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family since he sided against 

           them in wiretapping of Communist Party members.

          -Yasuda was found not guilty but is still upset about sitting in jail and being interrogated.

     -Takashi Takano, a lawyer and professor at Waseda University's School of Law, says that he has seen judges sleep during trial.  He also says

       that being a defense attorney in Japan is one of the toughest jobs there is.

          -He stated that some lawyers may end up going their whole lives without winning a case.

          -Takano has been apart of preparing training sessions for lawyers to work on presentation skills and persuasion.

          -He also remarked that Japan had a better jury system up until 1943 when the not guilty rate was 20%.  This was when juries could ask the police officers 

            and witnesses questions.

          -He closes by saying that, "We couldn't get any worse than the system we have now".

  Takashi Takano

***A Few Facts About Japanese Legal System***

-Individuals are tried as juveniles from ages 14 to 20 years of ages

-Most offenses are tried first in district courts before one or three judges depending on the case

-Extremely high conviction rate

-Article 38 of Japan's Constitution reads "No person shall be convicted or punished in cases where the only proof against him is his own confession".

-Other than capital cases, many people sentenced to life are paroled within 15 years.

'Justice' in Japan article  Article: 'Justice' Japanese Style by David McNeill  The Japan Times