‘System error’: Osaka Pref. revenge porn case dropped against wrongly detained man – The Mainichi

2 comments

1. Note they had no actual evidence against him. In fact, if it weren’t for his alibi he would still be in legal jeapordy. He was held 42 days on suspicion alone. It is unlikely the case would ever have made it to trial without a confession, and since he maintained his innocence they held him prisoner for 42 days (21 days with a 21 day extension) as leverage to force him to confess to a crime he did not commit. Often the detention is longer than the punishment for the crime, which is simply evil.

   There are rare cases where the 21 days are extended for hundreds. The bar for this is extremely low, as this case once again demonstrates. The law operates too much on the gut feeling of investigators.

   In their ‘apology’ they noted their actions were legal and proper. It is no surprise the man said he cannot accept this apology for his entire life.

   A lot more of these cases have to happen before it changes. The one that really gets me is the several cases they arrested people for over a hacker, the ‘IP is proof’ cases. There were parents who confessed to a crime they didn’t commit and convicted, because they were afraid their child would go to prison. They didn’t know that their child was innocent and it was a hacker. They were finally released when they found the real culprit. That’s how crazy the system is and it is broken.

   In that case the culprit was caught by chance – he hid evidence boldly on an sd card on a random cat at Enoshima and TOLD the police. He was then arrested. Had he not been arrested, several innocent people would still be in jail.

2. >Under Ministry of Justice regulations, when a case is thrown out due to a lack of suspicion of a criminal offense, those who were held in custody are eligible for compensation of 1,000 to 12,500 yen (roughly $6.80 to $85.40) per diem.

   Maybe the compensation scheme needs a bit of revisiting?