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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "This alleged use of confinement as a way to elicit confessions -- or "hostage justice" -- is under renewed scrutiny after a group of victims recently filed a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. Lawyer Takashi Takano, who spearheads the suit, slammed the "completely inverted chronology". In Japan, "if you contest your charges, your bail is denied and detention drags on. You get punished and robbed of everything first, sometimes before the trial even begins, followed finally by a verdict," he told AFP."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: ""Hostage justice" -- a term popularised by ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's months-long, 2018-2019 detention -- has been repeatedly decried by international rights bodies. The latest lawsuit challenges judges' ability to "rubber-stamp" detentions, and to reject bail without demonstrating "probable cause" that evidence will be destroyed, according to lawyer Takano. In Japan, pre-indictment detention can last up to 23 days, extendable by multiple rearrests. Only after indictment does bail become possible, but as with Amano, the option is often dismissed if the accused denies the charges, campaigners say. Judicial data from 2021 shows that those who confessed were released much more quickly than those who denied the charges."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In Japan, refusing to confess or remaining silent is seen as high-risk behaviour of someone likely to destroy evidence," Kana Sasakura, a criminal law professor at Konan University, told AFP. Furthermore, detainees are typically interrogated without attorneys -- a stark contrast to most Group of Seven and East Asian democracies -- which makes it harder to withstand the pressure of questioning. This, coupled with gruelling confinement, attests to Japan's overall reliance on confessions, Sasakura noted. "It's a structure where, by conducting interrogations behind closed doors and isolating the suspect from the outside world, extracting confessions is made easier," she said."
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STORY: "Pressed to confess: Japan accused of 'hostage justice.' published by Agence France Press, on July 7, 2024.
SUB-HEADING: "Yo Amano says he is unravelling in a cell where he has been confined alone almost 24 hours a day for over six years, despite not having been convicted of the fraud charges against him.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Tomoya Asanuma endured almost four months of detention for charges including assault that he was ultimately acquitted."
PHOTO CAPTION: "'The thought repeatedly crossed my mind that if I falsely confessed, I can maybe escape all this,' Tomoya Asanuma said of his detention;
GIST: "In Japan's harsh criminal justice system, critics say innocence is not presumed and coerced confessions help drive the 99 percent conviction rate.
"From the moment I was arrested, I've been treated like I'm a prisoner," Amano, 36, told AFP through a glass screen at the Tokyo Detention Centre, where he is held alongside people convicted of violent crimes, including death-row inmates.
"I'm sure something is wrong with me mentally, but I can't tell for sure because I can't even get a decent medical diagnosis here," he said.
Campaigners argue that lengthy pre-trial detention is meted out too easily in Japan, especially if suspects remain silent or refuse to confess.
That often makes confessions a de-facto condition for their release, one that rights groups say exists in few other liberal democracies.
This alleged use of confinement as a way to elicit confessions -- or "hostage justice" -- is under renewed scrutiny after a group of victims recently filed a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality.
Lawyer Takashi Takano, who spearheads the suit, slammed the "completely inverted chronology".
In Japan, "if you contest your charges, your bail is denied and detention drags on. You get punished and robbed of everything first, sometimes before the trial even begins, followed finally by a verdict," he told AFP.
AFP obtained rare, court-issued approval to speak to Amano, who denies the charges against him.
Since his 2018 arrest, he has been locked up incommunicado, having "lost everything", including his job, partner and mental health.
In summer, what little coolness there is in the detention facility filters through a small food slot into Amano's sweltering cell.
Three tatami mats fill the floor space, and there is no air conditioning.
For most of the day, Amano is not allowed to lie down or lean against a wall, so he spends hours sitting on a mat.
The former restaurant owner says he has lost 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds) since his arrest.
This has left him estranged from the "daughter I doted on", now seven years old, and whom he last saw in 2019.
"I don't know if she still remembers me."
'Extracting confessions'
"Hostage justice" -- a term popularised by ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's months-long, 2018-2019 detention -- has been repeatedly decried by international rights bodies.
The latest lawsuit challenges judges' ability to "rubber-stamp" detentions, and to reject bail without demonstrating "probable cause" that evidence will be destroyed, according to lawyer Takano.
In Japan, pre-indictment detention can last up to 23 days, extendable by multiple rearrests.
Only after indictment does bail become possible, but as with Amano, the option is often dismissed if the accused denies the charges, campaigners say.
Judicial data from 2021 shows that those who confessed were released much more quickly than those who denied the charges.
"In Japan, refusing to confess or remaining silent is seen as high-risk behaviour of someone likely to destroy evidence," Kana Sasakura, a criminal law professor at Konan University, told AFP.
Furthermore, detainees are typically interrogated without attorneys -- a stark contrast to most Group of Seven and East Asian democracies -- which makes it harder to withstand the pressure of questioning.
This, coupled with gruelling confinement, attests to Japan's overall reliance on confessions, Sasakura noted.
"It's a structure where, by conducting interrogations behind closed doors and isolating the suspect from the outside world, extracting confessions is made easier," she said.
'Fair' system
The justice ministry told AFP that "prolonged detention solely on the grounds of remaining silent or denying charges isn't occurring".
"We don't use physical detention to force confessions," it added, defending Japan's "fair" and "evidence-based" system.
But Tomoya Asanuma, another plaintiff in the suit, recalls almost cracking under the strain.
Last year, the 36-year-old transgender activist endured almost four months of detention for charges including assault that he was ultimately acquitted of in January.
"Detectives would tell me, 'confess already, and we don't have to interrogate you so many times,'" Asanuma told AFP of the frequent, hours-long questioning.
"The thought repeatedly crossed my mind that if I falsely confessed, I can maybe escape all this," he said.
'Won't betray their trust'
And therein lies the secret to Japan's astonishing 99-percent conviction rate, lawyer Takano argues.
"After such endless interrogations, most people break and confess," leading to statements adopted by courts as evidence, he said.
A case in point is Iwao Hakamada, who was once the world's longest-serving death-row inmate. His convictions -- quashed last year -- relied partly on confessions made during what the Supreme Court ruled were "inhumane" interrogations.
"That's what undergirds the '99-percent' conviction rate. But do you really trust such guilty verdicts?" Takano said.
In his cell with an exposed toilet, Amano languishes with little sense of the time or weather outside.
The light remains on after bedtime, but he is not allowed to cover his face with bedding.
But still he will not confess.
"If I succumb now and choose an easy way out, I would disappoint people who still support me," he said.
"I won't betray their trust.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250707-pressed-to-confess-japan-accused-of-hostage-justice
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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