Re: [News] Cartoon blamed for youth's fatal beating on mom

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003, Scott Dubin wrote:

> "Neo-Era" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > "Ethan Hammond" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:
> >
> > > "S.t.A.n.L.e.E" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > >>
> > >> And guess which one it is:
> > >>
> > >>
> > ><http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200312/02/20031202p2a00m0dm00100
> > >1c.h
> > > tml>
> > >
> > > I see that psychotic sociopaths in Japan have learned
> > > how to deny personal responsibility.  Let's hope the
> > > courts do not buy into it.
> > >
> >
> > Not with Japan's 99+% conviction rate, they won't.
>
> Is that a real statistic?  Because if it was, I'd say Japan's pretty
> messed up.  That's guilty until proven inoccent.  That's Orwellian.
> Why bother with lawyers?
>

Pretty much, though I'd say it's 90%.
Japanese courts don't use juries, just judges
(though a new law will start using "civilian judges"
alongside professional judges for heinous crimes).
The Japanese police can detain you for weeks
while filing the charges (which may or may not come)
and question you without your lawyer present.
That's how they get confessions from those just fed up
and just want out regardless of their guilt,
while the courts put too much emphasis on such confessions
instead of detective work and other evidence gathered
(though they're trying to change that mentality too).

Futhermore, people who are charged are viewed as
already guilty by the public, so many just pay the fine
and sentence (many are suspended jailtime anyway,
so they don't have to go to jail at all) to avoid
the hussle of a long detention and extended public exposure.

Though many guilty Japanese tend to confess right away too and
thus able to apologize and ask forgiveness (big deal in Japan),
so that makes things a lot easier for the police.

Anyway, the onus is on the defendant to prove innocence.
They often convict you on mere circumstancial evidence
or only a confession.

Laters. =)

                Stan
-- 
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 /   _   | |/ Stanlee  stanlee[at]cif[dot]rochester[dot]edu
|  ( _|  |    Dometita   http://cif.rochester.edu/~stanlee/
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