26/01/2004

IBA Human Rights Institute Supports Calls for the Introduction of Electronic Recording in Japan’s Police Interviews

The Human Rights Institute (HRI) of the International Bar Association (IBA) will today release its report proposing the introduction of electronically recording interviews of persons suspected of criminal activity in Japan: ‘Interrogation of Criminal Suspects in Japan’.

The main recommendations of the report are:

• To immediately introduce a system of electronic recording by audio or video of all interrogations carried out by police and prosecution. This would ensure that the court could more efficiently and effectively assess and determine issues such as the extent to which (if at all) confessions may not have been made freely and voluntarily and whether citizens have valid grounds for complaint in respect of police questioning.
• For the Government of Japan to consider initiating, without delay, a comparative study of interrogation procedures internationally with a view to ultimately establishing the most appropriate system for Japan.

The report follows an invitation by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) to the IBA’s HRI to send a mission to assess, discuss and report on the JFBA’s proposal for changing the process of interrogation of criminal suspects in Japan. The mission, which visited in November 2003, comprised of two eminent lawyers: Nicholas Cowdery QC and Stefan Kirsch, from Australia and Germany respectively.

The key recommendations are made against a background of concern about the way in which confessions are obtained from detained individuals; the high conviction rate (over 99.9 per cent) of detainees passing through the daiyo-kangoku system of pre-trial detention; and the governmental review of the criminal justice system, with its proposal to introduce a modified jury system, saiban-in, comprised of members of the public who will sit with judges.

Nicholas Cowdery QC, a member of the IBA’s HRI mission to visit Japan says: ‘The report comes at a crucial time for the Japanese criminal justice process, with the Government presently reviewing many aspects of the system and with the daiyo- kangoku system again receiving close scrutiny. I am hopeful that the Japanese Government will take this opportunity to take note of all the international voices calling for reform and introduce an electronic recording system for all detained criminal suspects.’

To read the IBA report, ‘Interrogation of Criminal Suspects in Japan’ CLICK HERE

For further information/comment, please contact:

Romana St. Matthew-Daniel
Press Office
International Bar Association
271 Regent Street
London
W1B 2AQ
United Kingdom
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7629 1206
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7409 0456
E-mail: romana.daniel@int-bar.org