Japan is an extremely modern and technically advanced nation that's very peaceful and safe, with very low crime rates, and a very rich culture that goes back literally millenia, a culture of honor, respect and cooperation. Japanese people tend to be very polite, very well-behaved, hard-working and culturally honor-bound to do their best no matter what the task. The country is extremely rich in history and culture, while at the same time being also one of the richest countries in the world and on the forefront of technology and science.
Not everything in Japanese society is perfect, though. And I'm not here talking about people overworking themselves almost to death, or the shut-ins (hikikomori), or any of the other such ancillary cultural phenomena.
I'm talking about something much, much darker, and it relates to Japan's legal system. More particularly, to capital punishment.
It's not only that capital punishment still exists in Japan (and not just as an obsolete historical artifact that hasn't been used in decades; it is still being actively used to this day). That in itself is bad enough. However, it's worse than that. It's the horrendous unjust way in which most convictions are done.
When we consider capital punishment in the few states of the United States where it's still in effect, and while there are demonstrably cases of innocent people having been wrongly given the death sentence, at least the judiciary system tries to make it as difficult as possible to wrongly sentence innocent people. The accused has extremely strong constitutional rights. For example, any person who has been arrested and imprisoned has the irrevocable right to have a lawyer present in all interrogations, and these interrogations have to be recorded so that if there's anything not done by the book, the defense can present it in court. And speaking of court, the prosecution has the burden of proving the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
In Japan, however, the vast, vast majority of death sentences are given based on the confession of the accused. The confession alone.
"Well, what's wrong with that? If the accused confesses to the crime, it's a slam dunk case."
Except that pretty much all of these confessions are acquired under heavy duress.
You see, unlike in most other countries (like in the United States), the police can keep any suspect in jail for investigatory arrest for up to 23 days, for any reason, without having to charge the person with anything. (In most other countries, including the United States, the police can only do so for a few days.)
It is widely reported that during these 23 days suspects are being heavily and aggressively interrogated for even 12 hours and more, every single day. The suspects may also be held in conditions that induce sleep deprivation and even physical abuse.
What's worse, in Japan you do not have the right to have a lawyer present during these interrogations. On the contrary, even if you ask for one, it is routinely denied. And these interrogations are not recorded, so no record exists of what happens in these interrogation rooms.
And once they get a confession, that is considered enough for a death sentence and it's very, very hard to try to reverse it. Essentially, once confessed, always confessed. No amount of retractions will help.
"Well, if you are innocent, just don't confess. It would be stupid to confess!"
It's very easy to think like this in the comfort of your home. It's very different when you are extremely sleep deprived, having slept very poorly for weeks, abused, yelled at, and interrogated non-stop for over 12 hours every single day. There becomes a point when even strong-willed people will stop thinking straight and start getting all kinds of delusional silly ideas.
For example one person (in another country, can't remember which) recounted in a TV documentary how he confessed to a murder he didn't commit, precisely because of having been aggressively interrogated for weeks on end, non-stop. At some point you just stop thinking straight. He said that he confessed with the idea, at that point, that it would finally make the interrogation stop, and that he would later reverse his confession and set things straight. Of course it's easy to think that it's very stupid to confess no matter what, because confessions are extremely hard to reverse, but when you are extremely sleep deprived, abused, and have been bombarded with constant interrogation for weeks on end, you lose the ability to think clearly and rationally.
And this, according to reliable reports, is precisely the situation in Japan. The vast, vast majority of death penalty convictions are based solely on confessions and nothing else, and these confessions have invariably been gotten via aggressive interrogation.
And since these convictions are rarely further investigated, it's impossible to know how many innocent people have been sentenced to death in Japan.
Comments
Post a Comment