Some Characteristics of the Application of the Criminal Justice System in Japan (From Selected Issues in Criminal Justice, P 1-13, 1985 - See NCJ-103245)

• NCJ Number: 103246
• Author(s): W Clifford
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: Finland
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-104066.

Annotation

This paper describes the general character of Japanese social control and characteristics of Japanese crime, policing, case processing, and corrections.

Abstract

The crime rate in Japan is low compared to other industrialized countries because of strong cultural conditioning that produces submission to authority and compliance with social rituals and legal mandates. Crime that poses particular problems in Japan includes public corruption, unruly juveniles, gangsterism, computer crimes, occasional political bombings, and bizarre dangerous behavior. Neighborhood police stations ('kobans') bring police in regular and close contact with citizens and neighborhood problems, facilitating an 80-90-percent crime detection rate. Public prosecutors and judges are trained in the same program, enhancing cooperation between these offices in case processing. Police and prosecutors in Japan have discretion to dismiss cases or divert them to informal dispositions. Institutional corrections emphasizes inmate employment, and community corrections relies on an army of volunteers. Sentences are not as harsh as in other industrialized countries.