Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Lawyers oppose increase in police interception

The Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom (JLAF) issued a statement on November 14 opposing the Abe government move to increase law enforcement authorities’ interception of wire and emails and to introduce a Japanese-style plea-bargaining system.

The JLAF held a gathering on that day in the Diet building with representatives from trade unions and a civil rights group to answer questions regarding the statement.

In September, the Legislative Council, an advisory panel to the Justice Minister, published a report recommending expanding the scope of crimes subject to interception of communications as well as introducing a plea-bargaining system that allows criminals to have their penalties reduced in exchange for confessing to the involvement of others in the crime. Following this report, the administration plans to submit bills to revise relevant laws in the next ordinary Diet session in 2015.

At the gathering, JLAF head Arai Shinji expressed his intent to work together with the general public in order to block revisions to the laws, stressing, “That will lead to creating a dark society which encourages people to keep watch on each other and act as police informants.”

Lawyer Kato Kenji, in charge of drafting the statement, criticized the council report for claiming that police should be permitted to interception of communications in investigating even injury and fraud cases along with organized crime activities.

After the meeting, participants delivered the JLAF’s statement to the lawmakers who are members of the Committee on Judicial Affairs.

Past related article:
> Justice minister’s panel proposes ‘reform’ enabling police to bug citizens’ communications [October 16, 2014]