Late on Saturday night the Wicked Step-mother called me over to listen to a very interesting piece on the BBC World Service’s Assignment program about the Japanese police and justice system. In a nutshell, it talks about the amazingly high conviction rate (99% of people arrested are convicted), several cases of abuses of police powers and the coming changes to the uppermost tier of the (entirely government appointed) judicial system, where lay judges (ordinary citizens, similar to a jury system) will begin to operate in 2009.

There were a couple of points in there that I found quite interesting. The first was discovering that juries were going to begin operating, and the second was the police assertion that once the police start questioning someone, everybody believes that person is guilty. This was interesting for two reasons - I had forgotten the Japanese tendency towards groupthink (many people = everyone) and also because this is kinda implicit in Australia and perhaps elsewhere, but i had never heard it expressed so explicitly before.

I have often heard horror stories about the Japanese police and judicial system, and learned very early on that a) it is a bad idea to sign a confession, particularly if it isn’t entirely your account of events, no matter how badly you are being treated, and b) the interpreter is not an impartial 3rd person, s/he is employed by the police and is translating what they say, not providing legal advice. I’m still trying to figure out what aspects of the process are “restorative”, and soon, very soon, renewed access to the library will make that possible! For more information on issues with the Japanese justice system, see debito.org.

• the goddess (at home) said on 07/09/18 at 01:45 AM.....

  J, I think the biggest issue is the assumption of guilt first.. shoot first, ask questions later…  black and white - no grey areas..  of the police and law enforcement.  Once suspected then you are tarred and nobody can then remember what the true story is/was.  A good reputation once lost, is lost forever. 

  Plus they have “campaigns” - eg pick up an overstayer week, bicycle thief week, walking while gaijin week..  I think that is why the police stopped and questioned me a few weeks ago - some bright lieutenant suggested that this week it was the week to stop any foreign girls to check their visas.  How about they have the “lets find the real criminals” week?  That is what I want to know??? 

  It is all very sad, but it really is the simplistic way that the police operate.  It is too shallow, too stereotyped and profiles are too narrow to be accurate. But this is a reflection of culture and also the way that government treats society.  Think “Nanny state” and you are close to the mark.

• MJD-S (living room) said on 07/09/19 at 12:01 AM.....

  I caught some of a program which was kind of like the Japanese version of “Cops” - the TV crew followed the investigation of a brothel. #0 police involved, took 3 months - and they arrested the 8 people involved. For peddling a bit of extra hostessing services.

  From the segment I saw they are so bogged down with procedures they are rendered almost ineffective.

• MissSin (Tokyo) said on 07/09/21 at 12:25 PM.....

  i’ve heard some of those statistics before - in particular the high conviction rate. 
  it also reflects in how news is reported on tv & language usage.
  as soon as someone has been arrested, they lose their 「さん」 and gain the ‘title’ 「容疑者」(yougisha) which translates as ‘suspect’ but which my japanese coworker explained as 「犯人」(hannin) or ‘criminal’.
  it seems that although the two words do have different meanings, they are used interchangably (suspect=criminal)

  it’s most interesting seeingg famous tarento get done for something (ie drunken driving) on the news.  for a week or so they will be ‘XXXX criminal’. then they apologise profusely on tv a few times, cry, pay a big wad of cash to someone, and then go back to being ‘XXXX san’

  weird how lanaguage works…