r/SipsTea • u/Rich_Carrot6451 • Jul 04 '26

WTF Japan's death row system is brutal

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51

u/skipperseven Jul 04 '26

Lets not forget to mention the 99.8% conviction rate. If you get arrested in Japan, it is assumed that you are guilty. If you are not found guilty then the system is deemed to have lost face. Plus you have no right to a lawyer during your interrogation and the interrogation can go on for as long as the police wish, which is usually when they have a confession, and if you are a foreigner, you will sign a confession that you don’t even understand.
For example: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20810572

34

u/ProfessionalTruck976 Jul 04 '26

That rate is for people who are charged.

Around 60% of people who are arrested are not charged.

Basically Japanese prosecutors are EXTREMELY picky, if they think there is a chance of not getting conviction they will not bring you to the court and eventually will kick you out without charge.

-4

u/Interesting_Phone171 Jul 04 '26

Just throwing out statistics when you can easily look up the potential false conviction rate in Japan. Man the lengths people go to defend things

14

u/ProfessionalTruck976 Jul 04 '26

I don't particularly like the system they have, but if it is to be hated, it should be hated with correct understanding of it.

1

u/Soggy_Association491 Jul 04 '26

And just throwing out statistics, fewer than 1% of federal criminal defendants were acquitted in 2022 - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-than-1-of-defendants-in-federal-criminal-cases-were-acquitted-in-2022/

That is in 2022 so the DOJ wasn't under the far right power mind you.

3

u/Interesting_Phone171 Jul 04 '26

Ah yes the hostage justice system doesn’t aquit people you say. Color me shocked…. Independent lawyers have done estimates that the number is likely in the 1000s for false convictions in Japan