Hiroyuki Kuzuno
Professor
Graduate School of Law
Hitotsubashi University
Japan



Recent Reform Criminal Procedure in Japan



Japan has experienced major reforms of criminal procedure recently. These include joint judge-jury system (saiban-in system), pretrial conference procedure, discovery system, extended judge-appointed counsel for suspects, video recording system of interrogation of arrested/detained suspects, consultation agreement system between public prosecutor and suspects/defendants (Japanese version of bargaining system), Impunity system. Backgrounds, outline, impact, problems and major court judgements are examined and discussed in this course.

From 4 to 8 March 2019
3/4
1. Outline and main futures of Japanese Criminal Procedure
2. Joint judge-jury system (saiban-in system)
3/5
1. Joint judge-jury system (saiban-in system)
2. Pretrial conference procedure and discovery system
3. Current practice of sentencing under the joint judge-jury system
3/6
1. Causes of false accusation and reform of interrogation of the suspects
3/7
1. Reform of the defence system for the suspects and current practice
2. Consultation agreement system between public prosecutor and suspects/defendants (Japanese version of bargaining system)
3/8
1. Dynamics of Criminal Justice Reform Legislation
2. Recent change of practice concerning pre-trial detention
3. Unsolved problems in Japanese criminal procedure