Japan’s Legal System – Effective?

If one watches the news enough in Japan, one gets the idea that recidivism is high. In recent months, I’ve seen several stories in the news concerning murderers who are released only to murder again or commit other serious crimes. The weirdest part is that nobody really complains too loudly about the judicial system’s follies here, even though many talk about them. Follow the link below for the latest.

Click here for the Mainichi Shinbun article on Japan’s latest recidivist Dead Link

Update: I resurrected this post because a case that has always disturbed me, has resurfaced in the news. Ten years ago, a teenager killed an elementary school student in Kobe, cut his head off, and left it in front of the victim’s school gate for other students to find the next morning. The killer taunted police by sending letters requesting they step up their efforts to catch him. Eventually, the killer was caught and confessed to this as well as another murder. At the age of 21, the boy was released from a correctional institution into the general public, as is commonly done for teenage murderers in Japan. For further info, check out wikipedia’s page dedicated to the incident.

Here’s a piece from today’s Mainichi Shinbun concerning the still-grieving father:

Father of boy beheaded by teen still fighting for victims’ rights

KOBE — The father of an 11-year-old boy, who was killed and beheaded by a teenager here 10 years ago, has fought to change the judicial system to ensure disclosure of information on juvenile crimes and protect the dignity of crime victims and their families.

“I don’t want anybody else to suffer the plight I’ve experienced. I didn’t want to lead a life that does not proudly honor the memory of my son,” said Mamoru Hase, 51, the father of the victim, Jun.

Hase visits Jun’s grave at a temple facing the Seto Inland Sea every single weekend. Even though he has placed most of his son’s ashes in a tomb, he still keeps some of them at home because the chief priest of the temple told him, “You should be with your son until you’re satisfied.”

Hase was unable to learn what the perpetrator said about the murder during the juvenile trial held behind closed doors. Neither could he talk about the plight he suffered as a member of the victim’s bereaved family.

In 2000, Hase joined the National Association of Crime Victims and Surviving Families (NAVS) and urged in the Diet that legislation be enacted to protect the rights of crime victims and their families. He was involved in a signature-collecting campaign to call for such legislation. The Diet passed a law aimed at protecting crime victims in 2004.

He is now engaged in activities to support crime victims because he believes that “only victims can give advice” on such matters.

He expressed hope that a bill to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to incorporate provisions allowing crime victims to participate in criminal trials will be approved by the Diet, which is deliberating on the bill during the current session.

“Defendants begin to rehabilitate themselves when they listen to what crime victims have to say and become aware of their guilt,” Hase said.

He also urged that crime victims be allowed to express their opinions and pose questions in juvenile trials in the presence of teenage criminals.

Hase received a letter from the killer of Jun in mid-May, but he says he does not want to meet him.

“I don’t want to even imagine that I come across the man who killed my son by chance,” Hase said.

The boy spent time in a medical juvenile reformatory in Tokyo for attacking Jun and two elementary school girls in Suma-ku in 1997, killing the boy and one of the girls. (Mainichi)

May 24, 2007

 

Some readers may also remember the Osaka teenager who murdered his mother, was put in a juvenile institution, and realeased at the age of 2o, only to murder again two short years later. Here’s a bit about it from the Asahi Shinbun:

Murderer of sisters gets death sentence

12/14/2006

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

OSAKA–A 23-year-old man was sentenced to death Wednesday for murdering two sisters last year to relive the “pleasure” he felt as a teenager when he killed his mother. The Osaka District Court sentenced Yukio Yamaji, unemployed and of no fixed address, to death for fatally stabbing Asuka Uehara, 27, and her sister, Chihiro, 19, in their Osaka apartment in the early hours of Nov. 17 last year. Presiding Judge Masao Namiki found Yamaji guilty of charges that included the two murders and robbery. During the trial, defense lawyers had argued that Yamaji could not be held responsible for the crimes due to his mental state, but the court rejected the claims. “This was a cruel and cold-hearted crime in which two lives were taken,” Namiki said. “The accused had a strong wish to kill and his criminal tendency is so strong that it is extremely difficult to expect his rehabilitation.” A psychiatric examination had concluded that while Yamaji has a personality disorder, he could still be held criminally responsible. The court ruled that he had thoroughly planned the murders and set fire to the sisters’ apartment to hide evidence, proving he was aware of his actions. Yamaji’s defense had argued that he was not mentally competent to take responsibility at the time of the murders due to his “pervasive developmental disorder.” In Yamaguchi in 2000, Yamaji beat his 50-year-old mother to death with a baseball bat. In the ruling Wednesday, the court said Yamaji killed the two sisters because he could not forget the “excitement and pleasure” of killing his mother. The ruling said the death sentence was unavoidable given the number of victims and considering the feelings of the sisters’ family. The sisters’ father, Kazuo Uehara, 57, was obviously shaken after the ruling. “Even with a death sentence, the two will not be coming back,” he said.(IHT/Asahi: December 14,2006)

I read in the paper here yesterday that some foreigners who had kidnapped a minor celebrity last year and held her captive for 13 hours before releasing her, mostly unharmed, are going to be tried for life sentences. One can only speculate why there’d be a push for them to be imprisoned for life while vicious murderers are released after 3 or 4-year sentences, often to kill again. Do the research yourself and you’ll see that Japan’s legal system does not exist to protect the rights and safety of the general public here.