Editorials Jun 4, 2019
Efforts to eliminate the risk of false charges and convictions need to continue even after the full implementation of the 2016 amendments.
National / Crime & Legal Jun 1, 2019
Japanese police and prosecutors now required to record some interrogations
Police and prosecutors are now obliged to record interrogations of suspects in serious criminal cases as legal revisions fully came into force.
National May 23, 2019
Police recorded 88% of interrogations in lay judge cases across Japan in fiscal 2018
Police took complete video recordings during 87.6 percent of fiscal 2018 interrogations in criminal cases bound for lay judge trials, National Police Agency data showed Thursday. As the recording of interrogation video and audio will become mandatory in June based on the revised criminal procedure ...
National / Crime & Legal Sep 16, 2016
Japanese police to tape all interrogations of suspects facing lay judge trials
Japanese police will make audio and video recordings of the entirety of interrogations in criminal cases subject to lay judge trials on a trial basis starting Oct. 1, according to a new guideline formulated Thursday by the National Police Agency. Transparency efforts in interrogations by ...
Editorials Jun 1, 2016
Revisions to three laws are ostensibly aimed at reducing the prevalence of false charges in criminal cases but they could have the opposite effect.
National May 24, 2016
Diet passes legislation to revamp Japan's criminal justice system
by Tomohiro Osaki
New legislation increases video recording of interrogations, expands the reach of the wiretap law and introduces plea bargains.
Editorials Mar 18, 2015
The Diet should scrutinize whether the proposed revision to the criminal procedure law contributes to eliminating false charges and wrongful convictions.
Editorials Aug 1, 2014
The National Police Agency says its investigators electronically recorded the entire interrogation process in nearly 1 percent of the cases set for lay judge trials in fiscal 2013. For critics of past investigative abuses that led to the filing of false charges, this is ...
National / Crime & Legal Jul 2, 2014
Most criminal interrogations in Japan will remain opaque
by Masami Ito
At least 97 percent of criminal interrogations would continue to go unrecorded, under the terms of a draft being considered by a Justice Ministry advisory panel.
Editorials May 13, 2014
A Justice Ministry legislative proposal for dealing with criminal investigations and trials evades the duty of electronically recording all interrogations of criminal suspects while broadening the range of tools that investigators may use.