On 17 May 2012, the Innocence Project run by law students at the National University of Singapore organised their official launch! The project has been up and running for some time, and the students have been engaged in reviewing a number of cases.
Please take a look at their public website (still in progress) here.
Posted in Asia
Shen Deyong, in 2007. Shen called for more respect of the judicial process
From source:
One of China’s most senior judges has called for an end to miscarriages of justice by the nation’s courts after two cases of wrongful convictions have highlighted inadequacies in its legal system.
“If more of these wrongful criminal convictions appear, they will become an unprecedented challenge to the People’s Courts,” Shen Deyong, the executive vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, wrote in thePeople’s Court Daily on Monday.
The paper is the court’s official mouthpiece.
“It’s preferable to release someone wrongfully, than convict someone wrongfully,” he said. “If a true criminal is released, heaven will not collapse, but if an unlucky citizen is wrongfully convicted, heaven will fall.”
Criminal trials in China had a conviction rate of 99.9 per cent in 2009, according to the latest China Law Yearbook. In recent months, several murder cases have raised public ire against the judicial system.
Zhejiang’s provincial supreme court on March 26 overturned a decade-old death sentence with two-year reprieve and a 15-year prison sentence for two men convicted on murder charges for killing a woman in Hangzhou.
Caixin in April reported on the ordeal of a farmer wrongfully sentenced to death with reprieve in 2008 in Zhecheng, Henan province. Also in Zhecheng, convicted murderer Zhao Zuohai gained prominence in 2010, when his purported victim returned to the village and Zhao’s death sentence had to be overturned.
Last year, Henan started to hold judges responsible for their rulings even after retirement to reduce the number of miscarriages of justice.
“Wrongful convictions are often the result of given orders, an abandonment of principles or sloppy dereliction of duty,” Shen wrote on Monday. If these things happen in the West, he argues, “the professional stigma cannot be washed away in a lifetime”.
Shen called for more respect of the judicial process, better training of legal practitioners and more transparency in the judicial review process. Chinese judges “face intervention and pressure from all sides”, he wrote, which give them little leeway to rule independently.
Shen’s article “is a good statement”, said Teng Biao, a law lecturer at the China University of Politics and Law in Beijing. “It’s progress.”
But Teng cautioned: “These are likely to be just personal views. Even if the courts are changing, they remain restrained by public security organs and the [Communist Party's] Politics and Law Committees.”
Shen, 61, gained prominence when he was parachuted to Shanghai to preside over the corruption investigation on the city’s party secretary, Chen Liangyu, who was later sentenced to 18 years in jail for bribery and abuse of power.
His comments come almost two months into Zhou Qiang’s tenure as president of the Supreme People’s Court. Unlike his predecessor, Zhou has a university degree in civil law and worked in the Ministry of Justice before scaling the party’s echelons of power.
Last month, Zhou called on lawyers and scholars to join efforts to reform China’s legal systems.
Posted in Asia
Two inmates were hanged in Japan yesterday. It seems like the number of executions are increasing in Japan in recent years…
Read more here about the death penalty in Japan and how executions are carried out.
From the Japan Times:
Apr 26, 2013
The inmates were Yoshihide Miyagi, 56, and Katsuji Hamasaki, 64, the Justice Ministry said.
Members of a yakuza syndicate, the pair were convicted of conspiring with an accomplice to gun down two rival gangsters at a family restaurant in Chiba Prefecture in 2005.
The human rights watchdog Amnesty International immediately condemned the hangings, saying the fast pace of executions by the LDP-led government tells the world that Japan is determined to ignore calls by the international community to abolish the death penalty. Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Capital punishment
Tagged capital punishment, Death Penalty, Japan
This month marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions this country’s criminal justice system has ever known – Gideon V. Wainwright. The case, along with later decisions, cemented the 6th amendment right to counsel for anyone, regardless if they have the ability to pay.But in a quick scan of the media today of monthly magazines to news dailies on the topic, readers will find one unified reflection expressed — half a century after Gideon, we are far from realizing effective representation for all. Keep reading here…
With recent posts on this blog detailing further great news from Europe on developing Innocence Projects (see here… on France, see here… on Belgium, here… on Netherlands), it certainly feels like the ambition of those in the US to spread the word of innocence internationally is proving fruitful. South Australia is celebrating (finally) getting a body to investigate miscarriages of justice – the first in Australia. There have been notorious miscarriages of justice in that State, and many others waiting to see the light of day. They may now have a chance – let’s hope it’s not too long before the other States and Territories follow suit:
Meanwhile, just in the last few weeks I have read the following news items from around the world – perhaps the media is starting to get with the programme?
In China, authorities have apologised ‘deeply’ for wrongly convicting 2 men of rape and murder (including a death sentence that was commuted). They have ordered inquiries into the investigation and conviction of the men. DNA testing led to another man who was executed in 2005 for another killing. Read here:
and: Zhejiang plans to probe men’s wrongful conviction.
There are hopes that the revelation of wrongful convictions – including the execution of innocence individuals – in China will lead to the cessation of the death penalty
In Israel, an interesting and detailed article looks at the re-opening of the notorious murder of a child at school (the Zadorov case). It re-caps on previous high-profile miscarriages of justice in Israel and their causes:
In New Zealand, calls are being made by political party leaders for a pardon in an infamous case where a 17 year old was questioned by police for five days without a lawyer. Teina Pora has spent 20 years in prison for murder – a murder where another man was convicted (on DNA evidence) of raping, but not killing, the victim. The case has always attracted accusations of racism in the treatment of Pora.
One can only hope that the spread of media interest in, and political motivation to tackle wrongful convictions, continues.
The BBC has put out an interesting article (by Rob Walker) on the problems of using accused/convicted persons as police informants. It focuses on US practice, specifically the plea bargain process and the cutting of prosecutorial deals. However, the article’s observations are also relevant for countries where accused persons may be “incentivised” to provide the police or prosecution with apparently useful information in exchange for a lower sentence. For example, 2012 amendments to Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, which used to impose a mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking, now gives judges the discretion to impose life imprisonment instead of the death penalty if certain conditions are fulfilled. One of these conditions is that the Public Prosecutor “certifies to any court” that “in his determination” the accused person has “substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau in disrupting drug trafficking activities within or outside Singapore”. In such situations, the accused person has an incentive to provide the police or prosecution with information even if he/she does not have any. To avoid wrongful convictions based on the manufacture of false information by accused persons, there needs to be clear regulations and an oversight system put in place. These should be accessible to those who may be wrongly accused, so as to enable their defence or requests for review, as well as the general public to ensure continued confidence in the system.
On 11 March 2013, the Singapore Court of Appeal quashed the conviction of a death row inmate. Mervin Singh had been sentenced to death for drug trafficking by the lower court.
Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act presumes that a person is possesses a drug for the purpose of trafficking if he or she is found with certain drugs above specified amounts. The said person is then required to rebut this presumption. Singh argued that he had not known that the package he had been found with contained drugs. Rather, he believed that the package held contraband cigarettes. The Court of Appeal accepted Singh’s argument. Among others, the Court of Appeal cast doubt on the narcotics officer’s claims that he had seen Singh opening and looking into the package, highlighting inconsistencies between the officer’s earlier statement and his testimony at trial.
The court also noted that Singh’s DNA had not been found on the box, the newspaper sheets, or the plastic bags containing the drugs.
The important role played by DNA testing in this case is noteworthy. Many studies show how the practice of DNA testing has led to the prevention and overturning of wrongful convictions in many countries. Singh was fortunate on many counts. He was lucky that there was evidence that could be subjected to DNA testing. He was lucky that DNA analysis was conducted. And he was lucky that the Court of Appeal gave sufficient weight to the results of this analysis. This raises a number of points: 1. Sometimes a piece of evidence that could be submitted for DNA analysis may not be available at the time of trial or the said evidence, though available, may not have been tested due to unintentional oversight or mistakes made in good faith; 2. It is necessary to ensure that there are laws or regulations in place that provide for the preservation of evidence, access to evidence, and DNA testing; 3. There should be accessible and transparent procedures that enable convicted persons and their legal representatives to request access to preserved evidence or submit new evidence for DNA testing at a post-conviction stage.
Unbelievable…… Kagoshima District Court and Nagoya High Court both turned down the retrial plea of two cases (Ohsaki Case and Fukui Case) today. Read about the Ohsaki Case here, and Fukui Case here.
Here is an article about the Ohsaki case by mainichi.jp:
KAGOSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) — The Kagoshima District Court rejected on Wednesday an appeal for a retrial filed by a woman who was convicted and served a 10-year prison term for killing her brother-in-law in 1979 in Kagoshima Prefecture for insurance money.
The decision came after the district court had initially decided to reopen the case involving Ayako Haraguchi, now 85, in 2002, which was overruled by the Fukuoka High Court in 2004. The high court’s decision was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court.
The murder occurred in October 1979, when Kunio Nakamura, 42, was found dead in a cattle stable beside his home in the town of Osaki, Kagoshima. Continue reading
From Yomiuri Shimbun (see the link). Shoji Maekawa, the defendant in Fukui Case (center). Shoji Sakurai (left), and Takao Sugiyama(right), two defendants in so-called Fukawa Case, were both exonerated in 2011.
Two decisions concerning wrongful convictions will be handed down today in Japan. One is Ohsaki case which I posted about yesterday, and the other is Fukui case.
Fukui case involves a 1986 murder of a 15-year-old girl. The defendant (Shoji Maekawa) in the case was acquitted by the Fukui District Court in 1990, but the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court vacated the decision and gave Maekawa 8 years in prison in 1995 (the Japanese criminal justice system allows the prosecutors to appeal a verdict of acquittal).
Maekawa petitioned to open a retrial in 2004, and the Kanazawa Branch granted his petition in November 2011. The prosecutors filed an objection to the High Court, and the decision by the High Court will be handed down today (on March 6th, 2013).
Read about the Fukui Case here (English, by Asahi Shimbun) and here (Japanese).
Below is an article by Yomiuri Shimbun in 2011: Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice
Tagged Fukui case, Japan
Ms. Ayako Haraguchi. From 47news.
The Kagoshima District Court will decide whether to opne a retrial for a 34-year-old case (so called Ohsaki/ Osaki Case) tomorrow. This is a case where confessions were crucial pieces of evidence in determining the defendant’s guilt. Ayako Haraguchi, now 85 years of age, is seeking a retrial for the 2nd time. Will she get her day in court?
On October 15th 1979, the victim’s body was found in a barn in Ohsaki, Kagoshima Prefecture. The victim had been missing for 3 days. The police immediately suspected that the victim’s two older brothers, A and B, murdered him. After A and B confessed to the crime, they were arrested on the 18th. B’s son was also arrested on the 25th. On the 30th, A’s former wife, Ayako Haraguchi was also arrested, based on A and B’s confessions.
Haraguchi never confessed to the crime. However, the other three all confessed. They named Haraguchi as the principal, and admitted that they killed the victim by strangling him with a towel.
In March 1980, the Kagoshima District Court decided that Haraguchi was guilty of the murder. The sentence was 10 years in prison. Haraguchi lost the appeals, and served the time.
Haraguchi got out of prison in 1990, and petitioned to retry the case in 1995. Continue reading
Posted in Asia, False confessions, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice
Tagged Japan, Ohsaki case, Osaki case
There is an interesting write-up in The Economist (“Japan’s Prisons: Eastern Porridge”, 23 February 2013) that examines the role of confessions and police interrogations in Japan’s criminal justice system, among others. Here is an excerpt:
“Criminal courts in Japan have long relied heavily on confessions for proof of guilt. Though the accused have a right to silence, failure to admit a crime is considered bad sport. Besides, police have strong incentives to extract a confession and, with up to 23 days to interrogate a suspect, the blunt tools to do so, as a stream of disturbing incidents has shown. Detectives tracking down an anonymous hacker extracted separate confessions from four innocent people before being forced in December into a humiliating apology. Court conviction rates are over 99%.”
From the Japan Times:
Opinion divided on life term without parole
by Daisuke Sato (Last In A Series), Feb 21, 2013
The inmate, who has now served 15 years, has been behaving well and prison guards often describe him as an “exemplary” prisoner.
He was initially sentenced to death by a district court. However, a high court determined that there was a possibility he could be rehabilitated and reduced the punishment to a life term. This sentence was later finalized.
“The death penalty may have been upheld” if his trials had been conducted today because sentencing has gotten tougher, the inmate said in an interview in the prison’s visiting room.
Technically, inmates serving life terms can be released on parole if they serve 10 years, demonstrate signs of reform and meet other requirements. The reality, though, is that the period such inmates are actually serving has been getting longer, recently reaching an average of about 30 years, according to data released by the Justice Ministry.
Even so, the Chugoku inmate is happy just for the opportunity to atone. Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Capital punishment, Reforming/Improving the system
Tagged Death Penalty, Japan, Life without Parole, LWOP
Three executions were carried out today in Japan. These were the first executions since Shinzo Abe (Liberal Democratic Party) became the Prime Minister in December 2012.
The three men executed today were Masahiro Kanagawa (at the Tokyo Detention Center), Keiki Kano (Nagoya Detention Center), and Kaoru Kobayashi (Osaka Detention Center). Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who has the ultimate power to order execution of death row inmates, did not comment when and why these three were chosen.
One of the three men, Kobayashi, was convicted of kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl in 2004. After he was sentenced to death by the Nara District Court, he withdrew his appeal, saying that he did not want to live anymore. However, he filed a motion for a retrial in 2008 (the motion was rejected by the Nara District Court). Shinichi Ishizuka, who was Kobayashi’s attorney, commented: “Kobayashi was frustrated that he could not appropriately raise the fact that he did not act with the intent to kill the victim at the trial. We were preparing to file for a retrial again. We regret the fact that he was executed before he could have his day in court” (this paragraph is from the Mainichi (in Japanese)).
Justice Minister Tanigaki told the press that if there are problems within the current system of capital punishment, they should be fixed. However, he also commented that he does not think an overall reform is needed. Tanigaki did not witness the executions today, since it is very uncommon for a Justice Minister to do so.
As of December 2012, there were 133 inmates on death row, a record-high number.
Read more about today’s news in English here (the Mainichi), and here (the Japan Times).
Numerous organizations immediately issued statements criticizing today’s executions: Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Amnesty International, and Center for Prisoners’ Rights (all in Japanese).
Read more about the death penalty on this blog (ex. here, here, here and here).
Here are two articles published by the Japan Times today on death penalty in Japan.
One describes how executions are actually carried out in Japan, and the other tells a story of the mother of a man who was hanged.
Kyodo
Read about the current state of capital punishment in Japan here.
A 30-year-old man from Osaka was sentenced to death last week. What was unusal about this sentence is that the defendant had no prior criminal record, and that it was a case involving the death of a single victim.
In the 1983 Nagayama decision, the Supreme Court stated that the courts must be extremely cautious to impose the death penalty. It stated that they could impose death penalty only where the below stated nine factors were considered and where the death penalty is deemed compelling.
The nine factors are: seriousness of the offence, motive, how the crime was committed; especially the manner of the murder, seriousness of the outcome of the crime; especially the number of victims, sentiments of victim’s family members, impact on society, defendant’s age, prior record/ criminal history, and degree of remorse.
When the courts take these factors into consideration, it is standard practice that they do not sentence one to the death penalty when the case involves a single victim and the defendant has no prior criminal record. Thus, the case last week came to a shock to many.
From the Japan Times:
Kyodo, Feb. 16, 2013
Judge Kosuke Morioka of the Okayama District Court, presiding over a panel of professional and lay judges trying Koichi Sumida, 30, said Thursday the victim was also sexually assaulted, making the case “grave.”
Sumida’s lawyer immediately appealed the sentence. Continue reading
The Singapore High Court has decided that it will review a 2011 conviction on rape and aggravated outrage of modesty based on new medical evidence produced by the convicted person to show that he suffered from erectile dysfunction at the time of the 2006 offences.
Read more about the case here:
Debates about making pro bono compulsory for lawyers continue in Singapore. Under the new proposed scheme, lawyers are required to do 16 hours of pro bono each year. Some lawyers are supportive, but many are unhappy with being “forced” to do pro bono.
The debates go essentially to what it means to be a lawyer. Qualified lawyers hold resources and skills which are in limited and controlled supply, but which are necessary for ordinary people to access the essential public good of justice. Due to the scarce and essential nature of lawyering skills, it is possible to see members of the legal profession as holding a limited form of stewardship over their resources. Such a stewardship would require them to make their resources available, in a reasonable and non-disruptive manner, to the community for public purposes.
More importantly, there is the deeper question of whether the burden of providing the lawyering skills and human resources necessary for legal aid, particularly criminal legal aid, should be shouldered by private lawyers alone. Statistics show that more than one-third of criminal defendants claiming trial do not have legal representation. Currently, the government provides funding for the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offender (LASCO), which applies to capital cases, and the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS), which is run by the Law Society of Singapore. These schemes assign private lawyers to criminal cases. If we as a society believe that justice is a public good accessible to all, the pursuit of accessible justice cannot be left primarily to private enterprise. This is especially important given the fact that poor lawyering is widely acknowledged as one of the reasons for wrongful convictions. If justice is a public good, access to quality lawyering needs to be more strongly guaranteed by the State as society’s ultimate guarantor of public goods. It is time for the Singapore State to establish an Office of Public Defence to complement the pro bono efforts of private lawyers in Singapore.
Since commuter trains in urban areas are unbelievably crowded in Japan, there have been problems of groping (“chikan“) on these trains, especially during the morning rush hours.
Not surprisingly, there have been many cases where people were wrongfully arrested or even convicted as the groper. Once arrested, it is extremely difficult to prove one’s innocence since there typically is no evidence other than the victim’s testimony. Read more about the problem of groping and wrongful convictions here (an article from the Japan Times Online).
Below is a recent article from the Mainichi Newspapers about a case currently being fought to win a retrial in a train groping case.
From the Mainichi Online:
The Tokyo District Court on Jan. 31 made the rare move of summoning an elderly man for questioning during his request for a retrial in a molestation case over which he has already served prison time.
Usually retrial requests are screened on paper, and it is unusual to directly question a former defendant. Lawyers for the 70-year-old man, whose name is being withheld, said they and prosecutors are due to submit their final opinions on the case to the district court at the end of February. Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice
Tagged Chikan, Japan, Train Groping
