A study panel at the Justice Ministry on Aug. 8 issued a report which said that electronic recording of interrogation of suspects by investigators is effective in objectively recording the interrogation situation, deterring inappropriate interrogation and preventing false charges.
Acting on Justice Minister Satsuki Eda's instruction the next day, Prosecutor General Haruo Kasama ordered the nation's public prosecutors offices to electronically record interrogation in all the types of criminal cases to be tried by lay judges. But this is not recording of the entire process of interrogation but partial recording.
So far, in such cases, recording has been done when suspects confessed to charges. From now on, a recording will also be made when suspects refuse to confess to charges. When suspects do not want recording, it will not be done. Importantly the report does not necessarily call for electronically recording the entire process of interrogation. The report includes hints of public prosecutors' resistance to total recording. It includes results of a survey of 1,042 public prosecutors. While 77 percent said that recording will help ensure proper investigation and 85 percent said that recording will make it easy to prove the voluntary nature of confessions, 91 percent said that recording may make it difficult to gain true confessions.