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- Convenor:
-
Takayuki Ii
(Senshu University)
Send message to Convenor
- Section:
- Politics and International Relations
- Sessions:
- Thursday 26 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
In the Heisei era (1989-2019), Japanese laws and justice system were largely reformed. This panel finds and investigates the feature of Japanese legal system, including "hostage justice", in the curious mixture of relatively responsible lawyers and citizens and the quasi-authoritarian regime.
Long Abstract:
This panel investigates the feature of Japanese legal system in the Heisei era (January 1989-April 2019) in relation to its social background.
After the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, in the depression and depopulation, Japan worked on various reforms, including political reform, administrative reform, promotion of decentralization, and reforms of the economic structure such as deregulation. Quite a few laws were made or revised in response to the social, economic, political and international movements in the Heisei era.
What commonly underlies these reforms seems to be the will that each and every person will break out of the consciousness of being a governed object and will become a governing subject, with autonomy and bearing social responsibility, and that the people will participate in building a free and fair society in mutual cooperation and will work to restore rich creativity and vitality to Japan.
The reform of the justice system aimed to tie these various reforms together organically under "the rule of law" that is one of the fundamental concepts on which the Constitution is based. Justice system reform was positioned as the "final linchpin" of a series of various reforms concerning restructuring of "the shape of our country."
Regarding judicial reform, the Justice System Reform Council was established under the Cabinet in July 1999. Pursuant to the recommendations of the Council, various new systems were set up, which included the law school, the mixed court system, the Japan Legal Support Center and others.
The legalization seems to be on going with increasing lawyers, however, the steamrolling of the draft law, such as introduction of the 2015 security legislation, and the noncompliance or evasion of law is rampant under the long-standing Liberal Democratic Party coalition government. Japanese "hostage justice" and the state of human rights has been criticized.
This panel is going to consider the Japanese legal system in terms of law amendments and reforms on lawyers, the criminal procedure and the access to justice. It finds the feature of Japanese legal system in the curious mixture of relatively responsible lawyers and citizens and the quasi-authoritarian regime.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 26 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I will review the changes and remaining issues in the Criminal Procedure in Japan in the Heisei Era. In doing so, I will focus victims awareness and lay participations. I will also discuss the future prospect for the Japanese Criminal Procedure in the Reiwa Era.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I am going to review the issues the Criminal Procedure in Japan had faced in the Heisei Era. Japanese Criminal Justice was once criticized as "Silent Pyramid" by one of the most distinguished scholar of Criminal Procedure, Prof. Koya MATSUO. After the late 1990"s, however, the Japanese Criminal Procedure had produced many legislations and amendment. Behind these movements, there have been two important factors: one is awareness for victims and victims' inputs in the criminal procedure (these are often combined with a fear for crime), and the other is lay participation in the criminal justice system which had been dominated by professionals.
The first factors had realized many new legislations such as Reformed Juvenile Act, Domestic Violence Act, Child Abuse Act and Stalker Regulation Act, etc. and Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure had been reformed for a few times, and some of these reforms were triggered by victims' outcries. Also, since December 2008, victims of certain serious crime can participate in criminal trials
As for the latter factor, since May 2009, the Lay Judge System and mandatory prosecution systems by the Prosecution Review Commissions were introduced. Especially the Lay Judge System has required the Criminal Justice System to become more "Trial-Centered Approach", which has made the courts little bit more often to reject requests from prosecutors to detains suspects and also, to grant bails after suspects are prosecuted. This may be a sign to improve "hostage justice" image of the Criminal Procedure in Japan. Then, as being reported world-widely, in the end of 2019 (the first year of the Reiwa Era), the escape of Mr. Ghosn (while he was on bail) happened. This incident may cause a backlash in the Criminal Procedure in Japan.
In this paper, I will review the changes and remaining issues in the Criminal Procedure in Japan in Heisei Era and discuss the future prospect for the Japanese Criminal Procedure in the Reiwa Era.
Paper short abstract:
In the Heisei era, under the deregulation, the attention was paid to the individual persons for the better or worse in the lawmaking. This paper considers a gap between these new laws under the long-standing LDP coalition government and the new judicial system which was reformed at the same time.
Paper long abstract:
This paper considers the feature of Japanese legal system in the Heisei era. After the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, in the deregulation, depression and depopulation, various reforms, including political reform, administrative reform, promotion of decentralization, and reforms of the economic structure such as deregulation were promoted. What commonly underlies reforms is the will that each and every person will become a governing subject, with autonomy and bearing social responsibility.
Quite a few laws were made or revised in response to the social, economic, political and international movements in the Heisei era. The attention was paid to the individual persons in the private sphere, which realized the legislations of child abuse and domestic violence prevention. Japan experienced disasters and terrorism, which were partly responded by laws to protect sufferers and criminal victims. On the other hand, the laws on non-regular employment, tax and social security widened the gap between the rich and the poor. Citizens' anxiety led to the severe punishment of criminals, which was supported by the police and prosecution office in the 2000s.
At the sama time, judicial system was improved in terms of the justice system, the legal profession and the popular base. The population of lawyers has almost trebled (from 13,541 to 41,178) and their spheres of activity have enlarged in the Heisei era. The court and its decisions seem to have been partly changed with the introduction of the mixed court (saiban-in) system.
It seems that there is a gap between the laws under the long-standing LDP coalition government. and the reformed judicial system in the Heisei era. The legalization seems to be on going with increasing lawyers, however, the steamrolling of the draft law, such as introduction of the 2015 security legislation, and the noncompliance or evasion of law are rampant under the long-standing LDP coalition government. Japanese "hostage justice" and the state of human rights has been criticized.
This paper concludes that the feature of Japanese legal system in the Heisei era can be seen in the curious mixture of relatively responsible lawyers and citizens and the quasi-authoritarian regime.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation will introduce the judicial reforms in Japan (especially the establishment of Japan Legal Support Center) and consider the current status and issues of JLSC.
Paper long abstract:
Japan carried out a full-scale reform of its judicial system in the 1990s. To create a judicial system more accessible to citizens, it took actions including the introduction of the citizen judge system, establishment of law schools, and enactment of the Comprehensive Legal Support Act. Also related to access to justice, as a result of a series of judicial system reforms, the civil law legal aid system was broadened, and the court-appointed defender system was completed. In particular, through initiatives undertaken by the Japan Legal Support Center (JLSC) established under the Comprehensive Legal Support Act and by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), lawyers have been sent to judicially underserved areas more frequently than before, gradually reducing difficulties in accessing justice caused by geographical location.
Measures taken in response to legal system reforms as cited above—specifically, improving legal organizations, providing legal information, broadening access points, and so on—have, to a certain degree, effectively removed structural factors obstructing access.
However, the series of measures described above do not reach people who lack affinity with the system itself—in other words, people who are outside the categories of people for whom the system was designed. In fact, even when these measures reach such people to some degree, the people do not necessarily utilize them. Even assuming they have opportunities to obtain legal information, or encountered legal information some way or another, there is a wide gap between knowing about the information and actually utilizing it. It is important to consider structurally dependent measures that do not extend appropriate legal support to areas where there is a need for it. At the same time, it is important to consider measures in the context of the realities of those who have lost ground as a result of being committed to the system.
This presentation will introduce the judicial reforms in Japan (especially the establishment of Japan Legal Support Center) and consider the current status and issues of JLSC.
Paper short abstract:
There were many changes in the lawyer (bengoshi) profession in Japan in its Heisei Era, such as a substantial increase in number. This paper critically evaluates these changes and analyses the prospects of the profession in the new Reiwa Era.
Paper long abstract:
The profession of lawyers (bengoshi) in Japan saw many significant changes in the last two decades of the Heisei Era. A large-scale reform of the justice administration system that was launched in 2001 had caused a rapid and substantial increase in the number of bengoshi. The system of educating and nurturing aspiring legal professionals was also changed, with the introduction of an American-style postgraduate law school system. Large-sized law firms emerged. Bengoshi, since 2002, are permitted to incorporate to form legal profession corporations, a few of which have attained sizable scale of operation. There were concerns that the significant increase in bengoshi would cause a deterioration in the profession's quality and ethics as well as an over-supply of bengoshi. Near the end of the Heisei Era, the Japanese government slowed down the increase. Are the aforesaid concerns justified? Did the increase need to be slowed down? Japan has now entered a new era, the Reiwa Era. Will the bengoshi system inherited from the Heisei Era be compatible with the development in Japan and the world in the new Reiwa Era? This paper will critically evaluate the changes in the bengoshi system in the Heisei Era and analyse the prospects of the profession in the new Reiwa Era.