Crime and Executions in Japan: Japanese Politics 101

On July 6th, Japan captured global headlines after executing former-cult leader, Shoko Asahara, and six of his followers for carrying out the 1997 Tokyo Subway Sarin Attacks. While largely accepted here, Japan’s ongoing execution practices attract international attention and scrutiny. Of the G-7, only the United States and Japan continue capital punishment, which begs the question: what are Japanese prisons and execution’s like, and how has this impacted our diplomatic efforts?
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[@NANA-kf1cs]

Holding anyone for 23 days without proof they have committed a crime is truly medieval. It fits in with the mentality I have read about in Japan's legal system. In Japan the legal system works in reverse, whereby someone is assumed guilty until proven innocent, rather than innocent until proven guilty.

[@jhca4671]

N/A N/A It doesn’t have to be answered.

[@siggyretburns7523]

Yeah. But look how low their crime rate is. Personally, I have had it with thieves. 28 days without council or trial not so bad. There are people still being held at the capital hill jail for the Jan 6th incident that still, STILL havent had council nor trial.

[@ivolederer3633]

Loving this series so far! I can really see how immersing myself in the hundreds of hours of bright and witty political commentary on your channel could give me a pretty good idea of Japanese Politics.

[@aikankei]

Another great segment!

[@aguttkejp]

When reading the title, I'd hoped you'd go into explaining the system here in depth but it was unfortunately more a scratching of the surface. The statement that rape is NOT persecuted here is wrong. My partner deals with them every single day. The truth would be "not persecuted to the extent it should be". Furthermore, you may find the following intetesting: In order not to burden a single person with the death of a person, there are 4 buttons, one of which kills the inmate. 4 prison wards press a button each so none will know whether they finished off the life of that inmate. Then they get a day off to recover. I now think that not planning deaths in long term is more for protecting the sane mind of prison wards. If they knew before that an execution is due on their shift, they may suffer for days and weeks of the psychological stress. And I don't get either why murderers should have the privilege of knowing their death day? For what? To say good-bye? Then you give them more rights than good people have. You don't know either if you'll see your wife or kids or parents again. So it's only fair.

[@langleyesquire]

Perhaps we should devote a segment on Inside Baseball to this issue; that is the series where we go deep. As it stands, this episode was on Japanese Politics 101, so the thrust of our discussion was different. Thank you for the idea to delve more deeply into it. Yes, it is indeed a very quirky area. Depending on feedback (like yours), we may place this higher up the priority list. Thank you for your comment!

[@aguttkejp]

Langley, I think a talk on the prison system may be interesting for people. I've been to a prison many times, not as an inmate, but a visitor. My partner works inside a prison, and due to being family and the general interest, I've heard about the system quite a lot. However, as prison administration, including HR, is usually a regional matter, at on the non-management matter, the situation in prisons may vary from region to region and possibly even prison to prison. I can't really second the notion that Japanese prisons are cruel. Yes, they very basic with often old buildings. And inmates have to follow many rules. But many of the inmates grew up in desolate households only to turn brutal criminals with the mind of 3yo kids later in life. Rules are what gives them a basis how to behave as they never learnt from their parents. Prison wards may not beat or harass them, they may not shoot them (they have no arms, either). They may not even let them commit suicide. Or even if they personally feel a certain inmate should rather die as they are just bad to the core, if that inmate falls ill, they have to do everything to save their life. Otherwise they'll be in deep trouble. As for the death penalty, my partner was against it before starting that work. However, after seeing how many bad to the core gangsters get tax-paid food and healthcare, my gentle partner changed their mind. Some people have just earned it.

[@Touhou-forever]

The Japanese Justice System needs to be reformed completely although Japan is a democratic country the Japanese Justice System is old system from the Imperial Japanese Empire the Japanese Justice System is the most unfair and harsh Justice System that I have ever saw for a democratic country

[@edonaito6962]

For a criminal group like Aum the execution of sentence one any single member does not take place until the final appeal of any member of that group. That is why it took over 20 years for the justice system to work it way through its final conclusion. That happened in January for the last of the 13 that were on death row. And then they moved the condemned prisoners to 7 different locations. So now there are 6 left. When do they go to meet their maker is not clear. But it will not be long.

[@edonaito6962]

The end part of this this got a bit weird. Japan has problems that almost any country in the world would love to have. As Japan ages and populations declines we will not need as many policemen and women. Not a bad thing

[@edonaito6962]

Well that in fact did not take long. The remaining 6 went to their judgment day this morning. As Michael said there is overwhelming support from Japanese to retain the death penalty and deploy it as it is today - rarely and only after exhausting all possible appeals. The UN Human Rights folks will issue another statement saying the death penalty does not deter violent crime and while that may be true in a general sense in some countries they are not looking at the individual social religious cultural contexts that exists in every country.

[@futsal1958]

No mention about the Minister of Justice completely stonewalling when asked about the timing of these executions: Why now? Why this many? Why these prisoners and not others? Nothing was answered.

[@aguttkejp]

I don't think so. Good law-abiding people don't know either whether they will see the sun set today. So why should murderers have that privilege? And A and not B? It's the same in life, too. Why does the father of 3 school kids have to die whereas the the grumpy old man hated by everyone around him lives? Apart from that family gets informed if normal inmates are dying. Even if they are hard-core yakuza who hurt and even killed people.

[@johnskott6304]

@@aguttkejp you like rats huh

[@litchi4507]

Here comes Tokyo on Fire! Bravo.

[@wwnetmentality6252]

**March 20, 1995**

[@jhca4671]

They deceive it.

[@tatsumasa6332]

I think criminals in this country are far more protected by their rights than most countries.

[@eatcarpet]

"I think".

[@jhca4671]

Absolutely true!

[@studiokiselbach]

Japan's legal system is been largely unchanged from The Civil Code of Japan (民法 Minpō, 1896) which was created in 1896. It was heavily influenced by the first draft of the German Civil Code and the French Civil Code. It is a system in which one must prove innocence. Japanese judges do not have broad powers to sanction or imprison recalcitrant parties for contempt of court. Nor is there a mechanism for courts to require the police to become involved in such cases. Japan is still a haven for child abduction (Hague convention is not strictly enforced) in so far as children born to Japanese and foreigners, it's quite easy to abduct a child back to Japan without recourse. The concept of a having a shared custody and child support are unheard of, too. Likewise, autopsy and suicides are two other issues not inspected properly, in Japan as many suicides may actually be homicides or accidents, often cases to collect insurance in Japan.

[@andychumsbusiness]

I am the first !! Haha

[@eatcarpet]

Japan is still stuck in the medieval system.