[GoNative]

Lawyer groups in Japan have also been calling for reforms for many years. It's certainly a very big issue here.

The main issue I have with the system is the reliance on confessions. It's one of the reasons that Japan has such a ridiculously high conviction rate. Basically if they don't get a confession they rarely actually go to trial. Concepts like building a case on forensic evidence are practically unheard of in Japan. It can also destroy a prosecuters career if a verdict of not guilty is passed in court. The whole idea of going to court unless you are certain of a guilty verdict appears to be very risky for a prosecuter which is one of the reasons why confessions are so highly sought after.

They get to hold you for 23 days and guilty or not they often get their confession from the accused during that time. Although physical torture generally doesn't occur, age old methods of torture like sleep deprevation are practiced. And what is truly amazing is that during interrogations you are not allowed to have your lawyer present and the interrorgations are not taped or filmed at all. So there are no witnesses whatsoever to whatever pshycological and emotional interrorgation techniques the police choose to use. The reliance on confessions also means that many guilty people are not prosecuted if they can last out the 23 days without signing anything.

All in all it would have to be one of the worst legal systems remaining in the world today (at least for a modern democratic nation).