5 ms·

>For more than a year, Mr Ghosn spent long periods in custody or was held under house arrest in Tokyo after being bailed. It was not clear when a trial would ta

>For more than a year, Mr Ghosn spent long periods in custody or was held under house arrest in Tokyo after being bailed. It was not clear when a trial would take place - the fear was it could take years - and Mr Ghosn faced a further 15 years in prison if convicted, in a country which has a 99.4% conviction rate. >It was during a period of house arrest, when Mr Ghosn was told he would not be allowed to have any contact with his wife, Carole, that he decided to find a way out. Holy cow - that's an insane system for a 'modern western democracy'...

paulpauper 5y ago
Not really. Federal prosecutors have a 98 percent conviction rate. Combined with long sentences means a lot of ppl just plead guilty even if innocent
sn41 5y ago
99.4 percent conviction rate? That sounds very suspicious to me. Btw, strange that Japan is called as 'Western' - perhaps the better term is OECD? Same goes for NZ, I guess.
- aunty_helen 5y ago
  ???? NZ is a first world British colony, same as USA, Canada and the closest neighbour, geographically and culturally, Australia.
  - sn41 5y ago
    Yeah, but geographically it is quite east of even Japan.
    - ot 5y ago
      Or west of the US.
  - forty 5y ago
    I think parents comment is just about the fact that Japan and NZ are at the very East side of European maps, which is why it might be surprising to tag them Western.
- fouric 5y ago
  An article linked in another comment in this thread[1] implies that this is because Japanese prosecutors pressure everyone, even innocents, into confession[2]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27827906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27827906 [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/world/asia/11japan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/world/asia/11japan.html
- chmod775 5y ago
  > 99.4 percent conviction rate? There's commonly two cited reasons for that: - Prosecutors won't even charge you unless they're completely convinced they've got an open-and-shut case. - Because of this, judges are likely to assume you are guilty if charged. Additionally, wrongful convictions are extremely embarrassing for judges, prosecutors, and their offices. For this reason they are unlikely to admit mistakes and other judges are under extreme pressure not to overturn convictions.
shkkmo 5y ago
If you calculate the US conviction rate in the same way, it is also around 99%. Now I also find that "insane" but it isn't out of line with other "modern western democracies"
LatteLazy 5y ago
The general rule in Japan is that if the police say you did it, the jury either agree or they're calling the police liars, and that would be a huge a loss of face for the police, and no one wants that.

paulpauper 5y ago

Not really. Federal prosecutors have a 98 percent conviction rate. Combined with long sentences means a lot of ppl just plead guilty even if innocent

sn41 5y ago

99.4 percent conviction rate? That sounds very suspicious to me. Btw, strange that Japan is called as 'Western' - perhaps the better term is OECD? Same goes for NZ, I guess.

aunty_helen 5y ago
???? NZ is a first world British colony, same as USA, Canada and the closest neighbour, geographically and culturally, Australia.
- sn41 5y ago
  Yeah, but geographically it is quite east of even Japan.
  - ot 5y ago
    Or west of the US.
- forty 5y ago
  I think parents comment is just about the fact that Japan and NZ are at the very East side of European maps, which is why it might be surprising to tag them Western.
fouric 5y ago
An article linked in another comment in this thread[1] implies that this is because Japanese prosecutors pressure everyone, even innocents, into confession[2]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27827906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27827906 [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/world/asia/11japan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/world/asia/11japan.html
chmod775 5y ago
> 99.4 percent conviction rate? There's commonly two cited reasons for that: - Prosecutors won't even charge you unless they're completely convinced they've got an open-and-shut case. - Because of this, judges are likely to assume you are guilty if charged. Additionally, wrongful convictions are extremely embarrassing for judges, prosecutors, and their offices. For this reason they are unlikely to admit mistakes and other judges are under extreme pressure not to overturn convictions.

shkkmo 5y ago

If you calculate the US conviction rate in the same way, it is also around 99%. Now I also find that "insane" but it isn't out of line with other "modern western democracies"

LatteLazy 5y ago

The general rule in Japan is that if the police say you did it, the jury either agree or they're calling the police liars, and that would be a huge a loss of face for the police, and no one wants that.