| To recap, the show said that if a psychiatric institution deems a suspect mentally incompetent, the charges are dropped and the criminal goes to a psych ward. The charges being dropped makes sense to me. From what I understand, Japanese prosecutors are very career driven, so if they don't feel at the outset that they will win, they probably won't press charges. (As far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong) But how on earth is it possible for someone who committed a crime, got committed to a psychiatric hospital, and then commits the same crime gets the same leniency? Does this happen? Is this an exaggeration for the show? Or is there some aspect of law I am missing? |
| Just like with problems with homophobia I discussed last year during YKA airing, its tricky to talk because "surface" of the system and overall system seems to work well enough, but parts of it are rotten and inefficient. Japanese cops and prosecutors are not only career driven but also VERY reliant on confessions for closing cases(to the point that few years ago it was not uncommon trying to "force" a confession out of people evidence work be damned.) The problem with psychiatric rehabilitation of mentally insane criminals is that the system, which came with 2005 reform was made in very rushed way. A lot of centers that are supposed to treat those criminals are incompetent as all hell leading to not only criminals using the system to escape jail(since the system fears failed cases, those who fake their mental illness get sent to the rehabilitation centers without trial) but also the ACTUAL mentally insane not getting better after spending time there. As someone who has lived in japan I can safely say that the level of crime is low(thankfully other parts of legal system work decently, for example, they have way stricter gun control than USA), but when crimes are committed they are fucking bizarre(ex: 2008 Akibahara massacre where a killer drove a truck into a crowd of people then jumped out of the truck and started stabbing people with a dagger). |
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CookingPriest said: Just like with problems with homophobia I discussed last year during YKA airing, its tricky to talk because "surface" of the system and overall system seems to work well enough, but parts of it are rotten and inefficient. Japanese cops and prosecutors are not only career driven but also VERY reliant on confessions for closing cases(to the point that few years ago it was not uncommon trying to "force" a confession out of people evidence work be damned.) The problem with psychiatric rehabilitation of mentally insane criminals is that the system, which came with 2005 reform was made in very rushed way. A lot of centers that are supposed to treat those criminals are incompetent as all hell leading to not only criminals using the system to escape jail(since the system fears failed cases, those who fake their mental illness get sent to the rehabilitation centers without trial) but also the ACTUAL mentally insane not getting better after spending time there. As someone who has lived in japan I can safely say that the level of crime is low(thankfully other parts of legal system work decently, for example, they have way stricter gun control than USA), but when crimes are committed they are fucking bizarre(ex: 2008 Akibahara massacre where a killer drove a truck into a crowd of people then jumped out of the truck and started stabbing people with a dagger). That's... ridiculously disturbing and depressing. Thanks for the insight. Incidentally, I think part of the reason I don't notice this is that, unlike American pop culture, which is flooded with tons of procedurals, there are very few Japanese manga/anime that are police oriented that are popular, unless you count GitS and Psycho-Pass. At least with homosexuality, the homophobia managed to pervade in more aspects of popular Japanese material (e.g. Persona 4) before Yuri Kuma Arashi brought it waaaay more to the forefront. I hope Laplace deals with this kinda stuff a bit more. Again, thanks. |
| Hell, this is how the Canadian legal system operates, bet you'd be able to find similar cases in the US also. This episode really spoke to my frustration over this issue. |
 I love Christine "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness." - Henry David Thoreau |
Takuan_Soho said: CookingPriest said: but when crimes are committed they are fucking bizarre(ex: 2008 Akibahara massacre where a killer drove a truck into a crowd of people then jumped out of the truck and started stabbing people with a dagger). The problem with your 2005 theory is that the murder rate in Japan continued to decline every year since 2005, so obviously the system is working. But I agree with you that a lot of the murders are pretty bizarre, but that I think is an outcome of some of the social pressures that reducing crime creates. The Akihabara example I wouldn't call bizarre, it is the equivalent of the Aurora Shooting. And yes, there are some cases in Japan were the police resort to brutality, but Japan is hardly alone in that, and in that the total number of murders is extremely low, it does seem to be working. But of course efficiency does not make something moral. But the idea that Japan releases large numbers of proven killers due to psychiatric reasons is a myth. Indeed they just sentence a guy to death for the murder of 3 people in a rural village who tried that defense. Was the murder rate already in decline before the 2005 reform? |
ThrashMatto said: Hell, this is how the Canadian legal system operates, bet you'd be able to find similar cases in the US also. This episode really spoke to my frustration over this issue. Not just Canada, a lot of european countries have laws like that. Yackdack said: Takuan_Soho said: The problem with your 2005 theory is that the murder rate in Japan continued to decline every year since 2005, so obviously the system is working. But I agree with you that a lot of the murders are pretty bizarre, but that I think is an outcome of some of the social pressures that reducing crime creates. The Akihabara example I wouldn't call bizarre, it is the equivalent of the Aurora Shooting. And yes, there are some cases in Japan were the police resort to brutality, but Japan is hardly alone in that, and in that the total number of murders is extremely low, it does seem to be working. But of course efficiency does not make something moral. But the idea that Japan releases large numbers of proven killers due to psychiatric reasons is a myth. Indeed they just sentence a guy to death for the murder of 3 people in a rural village who tried that defense. Was the murder rate already in decline before the 2005 reform? What that person fails to mention is that the decline CANT be attributed to the mental health of criminals stuff. As I said in my post, gun control, quality of life, prominence of yakuza, etc are the main reasons the crime is decreasing. |
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CookingPriest said: As someone who has lived in japan I can safely say that the level of crime is low(thankfully other parts of legal system work decently, for example, they have way stricter gun control than USA), but when crimes are committed they are fucking bizarre(ex: 2008 Akibahara massacre where a killer drove a truck into a crowd of people then jumped out of the truck and started stabbing people with a dagger). i wouldn't call that bizzarre... it's a kind of crime that might happen mostly in countries where people are normally unarmed(japan and italy first 2 to come to mind), honestly speaking, you'd get into the bizzarre territory only when talking about serial killers, like this series does. |
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