"Brilliantly combines scholarly reflections on Japan's Prosecution Review Commission with practical suggestions for making prosecution more democratic." - Satoru Shinomiya, Professor of Law, Kokugakuin University, Japan "Highly recommended for readers interested in understanding the complexities of Japanese criminal justice and the relationship between prosecution and democracy." - Dimitri Vanoverbeke, Professor of Law and Society, University of Tokyo, Japan "David Johnson's work is always original, thorough, theoretically interesting, and empirically well documented. This book reveals his continuing capacity to use his deep knowledge of Japanese criminal justice to draw wider lessons." -David Nelken, Dickson Poon Law School, King's College London, UK This book explains Japan's unique Prosecution Review Commission (PRC) which is composed of eleven lay people selected randomly from voter registration lists. Each of the country's 165 PRCs reviews non-charge decisions made by professional prosecutors and determines which cases should be reinvestigated or charged. PRCs also provide prosecutors with general proposals and recommendations for improving their policies and practices. The book analyzes the history and operations of the PRC and uses statistics and case studies to examine its various impacts, from legitimation and shadow effects to kickbacks and mandatory prosecution. More broadly, this book explores a problem that is common in many criminal justice systems: how to hold prosecutors accountable for their non-charge decisions. It discusses the potential these panels have for improving the quality of criminal justice in Japan and other countries, and it will appeal to scholars and students studying prosecution and democracy, criminal justice, criminology, lay participation, justice reform, and Japanese studies. David T. Johnson is Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. He has published six previous books which have received numerous awards and honorable mentions. .

This book explains Japan’s unique Prosecution Review Commission (PRC) which is composed of eleven lay people selected randomly from voter registration lists. Each of the country’s 165 PRCs reviews non-charge decisions made by professional prosecutors and determines which cases should be reinvestigated or charged. PRCs also provide prosecutors with general proposals and recommendations for improving their policies and practices. The book analyzes the history and operations of the PRC and uses statistics and case studies to examine its various impacts, from legitimation and shadow effects to kickbacks and mandatory prosecution. More broadly, this book explores a problem that is common in many criminal justice systems: how to hold prosecutors accountable for their non-charge decisions. It discusses the potential these panels have for improving the quality of criminal justice in Japan and other countries, and it will appeal to scholars and students studying prosecution and democracy, criminal justice, criminology, lay participation, justice reform, and Japanese studies.

The major achievements of Japanese criminal justice are thus inextricably intertwined with its most notable defects, and efforts to fix the defects threaten to undermine the accomplishments."--BOOK JACKET.

In the Japanese criminal system, the prosecutor is the most important figure. Based on extensive fieldwork inside a large prosecutor's office and on extensive surveys and interviews, this book explains the role of Japan's 2000 prosecutors.

With effective solutions in both criminal and civil disputes at a premium, reformers have advanced varied forms of jury systems as a means of fostering positive political, economic, and social change. Many countries have recently integrated lay partici

Practitioners who deal with Japanese law have put great store by earlier editions of this major work, which systematically compares United States (US) law and Japanese law across all the major fields of legal practice. This fourth revised edition updates the work with the continuing dramatic changes in Japan’s legal system, including changes in criminal trials, disclosures to defense counsel of evidence to be used by the prosecution, the increasing use of recordings of interrogation sessions, and the impact of the indigenous movement for judicial reform. All chapters have been updated. In the fourth revised edition, which follows the same comparative structure as formerly, author Carl Goodman ̄ an internationally known authority with extensive experience in international practice, university teaching in both Japan and the US, and US government service — takes expert stock of new developments, including the following: • the Cabinet’s Declaration reinterpreting the Renunciation of War Clause in the Constitution and legislation following such reinterpretation; • interpretation of new rules for international jurisdiction of Japanese courts, including the new law’s effect on mirror image lawsuits filed in Japan; • the Supreme Court’s rulings dealing with the presumption of paternity, the waiting period for remarriage after divorce, and inheritance rights of “out of wedlock children”; • international and domestic Japanese child custody; • unanticipated consequences of criminal trials before the new mixed lay/professional panels; • debate concerning the Emperor’s announcement of his desired abdication; and • an update of Japan’s experiment with new graduate legal faculties. Although the alteration of the legal landscape in Japan is highly visible, the author does not hesitate to raise questions as to how far-reaching the changes really are. In almost every branch of the new Japanese legal practice he uncovers ways in which laws and judicial rulings are closely qualified and are likely to present challenges in any given case. He reminds the reader in each chapter that “what you see may not be what you get”. For this reason, and for its comprehensive coverage, this new edition is sure to gain new adherents as the best-informed practical guide for non-Japanese lawyers with dealings in Japan.

Two new systems of lay participation in Japan -- Saiban-in saiban (the lay assessor trial) and new Kensatsu Shinsakai (Prosecutorial Review Commissions) -- will have a significant democratizing effect in Okinawa. Under the lay assessor system, local residents can become direct participants in criminal trials involving American military defendants. The new grand jury system (PRC) will have equally powerful impacts upon the prosecutor's use of discretion, largely because non-indictment decision made by local prosecutors against American military personnel or Japanese government officials will be critically assessed and may even be reversed by the citizen's panel. These lay justice systems may then help to restore a strong sense of social independence, political sovereignty, and cultural identity for the people in the island of Okinawa.