Japans Criminal Justice System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Japans Criminal Justice System - Essay Example Once arrested, the period f detention is three days under the authority f the police and then, with judicial authorization, a maximum f twenty days under prosecutor authority. Most f the time suspects are held during this period in a place f detention at the police station, known as a "substitute prison" (Daiyo-kangoku). Suspects in detention cannot refuse the summons to present themselves for questioning by an officer f the investigating police or by a public prosecutor. Often the questioning is repeated day and night for twenty-three days. Many police procedures are used without definite foundation in statutory law or specific agreement by those concerned, but "lawfulness" is generally admitted by case law. (Bayley 11-15) The public prosecutor, actively involved in the investigation "in case f need," can conduct it independently without the police. By making the most f his discretionary power as to the desirability f proceedings, the prosecutor nearly always anticipates the decision that would be rendered by the court. This is because the charges against the suspect must be sufficiently certain for actual conviction. (Johnson 300-5) Moreover, suspects consider it more serious and damaging to be accused before a court than to be questioned and even held by the police; they regard a verdict f acquittal to be an admission f the investigators' fault. Indeed, cases sometimes arise in which a person convicted at first instance, but acquitted on appeal or on judicial review, obtains compensation for "wrongful" prosecution. A further basic principle f criminal proceedings concerns the paramount importance assigned to a... Because the present Civil Code contains ambiguous and imprecise provisions with regard to evidence, judges seek to recompose and unify them in a simple form ÃŽ ¿f principles and exceptions: "if such facts exist, such a right shall be recognized, except when...." It is likely that, rather than scrupulously reflecting the distribution ÃŽ ¿f the burden ÃŽ ¿f proÃŽ ¿f in terminology, the drafters ÃŽ ¿f the Code did not have enough time to account for the opinions ÃŽ ¿f judges who only recently had taken up their duties. Although contemporary positivist judges do not directly criticize the Civil Code, academics whose main activity consists ÃŽ ¿f research on theory and comparative law are often targeted, in most cases these academics are unaware ÃŽ ¿f crucial practical considerations owing to the nature ÃŽ ¿f their training and career, separate from that ÃŽ ¿f other jurists. Now that judicial structure is well-established and the provisional, reign ÃŽ ¿f the "borrowed plumes" (from Europea ns) ÃŽ ¿f the Professorenrecht has ended, one might see magistrates' confidence adumbrated in new ideas regarding interpretation ÃŽ ¿f positive law. However, whether it relates to investigative perfectionism in criminal matters or to attachment ÃŽ ¿f presupposed ultimate facts in civil matters, precision justice always concerns the precision ÃŽ ¿f facts. It is essentially case facts that seem to occupy a large place in judicial thinking. These elements ÃŽ ¿f "factualism" sometimes prevail over the major principles ÃŽ ¿f rights and justice in their juridical evaluations. This is probably connected to the phenomena ÃŽ ¿f "non-justice," which will now be considered.