Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: True Crime Japan
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1968
WEBSITE:
CITY: Dublin
STATE:
COUNTRY: Ireland
NATIONALITY: Irish
http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/books-by-country/true-crime-japan * http://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2004111/book-review-true-crime-japan-vignettes-nation-through-its-court-cases * http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/09/17/books/book-reviews/say-youre-sorry-court-japans-rascals-killers-dope-heads/#.WJXvejsrJPY
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016038331
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Murphy, Paul, 1968-
Birth date: 19680731
Found in: True crime Japan, 2016: eCIP t.p. (Paul Murphy) data view
screen (award-winning journalist; his articles and
reports about Japan have appeared in The Japan Times,
International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi
Daily News, Irish Times and RTEÌ's Prime Time
television program, among others; currently a reporter
for the RTEÌ Investigations Unit in Dublin)
Email to pub June 27, 2016 (Paul Murphy; b. July 31, 1968
in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, UK)
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Born July 31, 1968, in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist. RTÉ Investigations Unit in Dublin, reporter; Mainichi Daily News, writer and copy editor; International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, business reporter; freelance reporter for Japan Times, Irish Times, and Irish Independent.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles and reports to newspapers, including the Japan Times, International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Daily News, Irish Independent, and Irish Times.
SIDELIGHTS
Born July 31, 1968, in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, Paul Murphy is an award-winning journalist who has reported in Dublin and Tokyo; he is fluent in Japanese as well as English. He has worked in print and broadcast media for more than twenty years. Currently, he is a television reporter for RTÉ’s Investigations Unit in Dublin, Ireland. Before that he worked as a writer and copy editor for the Mainichi Daily News, a business reporter with the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo, Japan, and a freelance writer for various publications including the Irish Times, Irish Independent, and Japan Times.
Murphy’s debut book is the 2016 True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom. The book chronicles many of the court cases Murphy covered during his year spent reporting in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, in Japan. In 2013 Murphy reported from the Summary and District Courts in the bustling city of Matsumoto, about 140 miles west of Tokyo. There he was a witness to 119 trials of a string of unsavory characters, including pimps, yakuza (Japanese mafia), grannies stealing fried chicken, and office workers with marijuana. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a contributor explained that Murphy provides “a winning mix of irreverent and earnest observations in this snapshot of the underworld in modern Japan.”
Not all the cases are charming; he recounts one case in which parents who cannot afford to keep their beloved home decide to burn it down with them and their twenty-one-year-old daughter in it to avoid the shame of moving. In another, a middle-aged carpenter beat his ninety-one-year-old mother to death and then went to work. The issue of more and more elderly criminals reflects the national debate on how to care for seniors who are isolated and deprived.
Murphy uses the court cases to portray several intriguing aspects of Japanese life. He used court records and interviews with defendants, their families, and lawyers to delve into the motives of offenders. Murphy notes that in Japanese society, nearly all defendants in court plead guilty. He also discusses the culture of crime and punishment in Japan, whose justice system blends a surprisingly forgiving prosecutorial style, particularly for nondrug crimes, with a harsh prison system. On the Crime Traveller Web site, Fiona Guy explained: “Paul Murphy gives you some background and a foundation for your understanding of the culture surrounding the individuals standing in the dock. How these crimes pan out in Japan, how they are responded to, and the kind of punishments given as a result.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, June 27, 2016, review of True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom, p. 77.
ONLINE
Crime Traveller, https://www.crimetraveller.org/ (July 18, 2016), Fiona Guy, review of True Crime Japan.
Japan Times, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ (September 17, 2016), Nicolas Gattig, review of True Crime Japan.
MediaHQ, https://mediahq.com/ (February 17, 2016), Conor McMahon, author profile.
Portland Book Review, http://portlandbookreview.com/ (February 6, 2017), Howard Leighton, review of True Crime Japan.
South China Morning Post Web site, http://www.scmp.com/ (August 16, 2016), Peter Gordon, review of True Crime Japan.
About the Author:
Paul Murphy is an award-winning journalist. His articles and reports about Japan have appeared in The Japan Times, International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Daily News, Irish Times and RTE's Prime Time television program, among others. He is currently a reporter for the RTE Investigations Unit in Dublin.
True Crime Japan
History
$16.95
SKU:
9784805313428
Publisher:
Tuttle Publishing
ISBN:
9784805313428
Format:
Paperback
Date Published:
08/02/2016
Illustrations:
Number of Pages:
256
Trim Size:
5 1/8 X 8
A middle-aged carpenter beats his 91-year old mother to death and goes to work the following day, leaving the body for his wife to find. An 82-year old woman is jailed for 10 months for stealing fried chicken. Like nearly all defendants in Japan, they both plead guilty.
What happens between plea and sentencing is the subject of True Crime Japan. In this fascinating crime book journalist and longtime Japan resident Paul Murphy provides a glimpse of Japanese society through a year's worth of criminal court cases in Matsumoto, a city 140 miles to the west of Tokyo. The defendants in these cases range from ruthless mobsters to average citizens, often committing similar crimes in rather different ways, and for different reasons. Based on court hearings and interviews with the defendants, their families, neighbors and lawyers—Murphy explores not only the motives of offenders, but the culture of crime and punishment in Japan.
The resulting true crime book provides a lens through which to view this honor-shame based, conformist culture, and shows how, in its role within that culture, the court system reveals Japan to be, surprisingly to some, a land of true individuals
True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads; True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom
263.26 (June 27, 2016): p77.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads; True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom
Paul Murphy. Tuttle, $16.95 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-4-8053-1342-8
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Pimps, arsonists, mobsters with missing pinkies, elderly shoplifters, and other criminal characters figure into Irish journalist Murphy's zany account of modern crime and punishment in Matsumoto, Japan. After settling in this metropolis, west of Tokyo, in 2013, Murphy became a regular at the Summary and District Courts, observing 119 cases over the course of a year. Drawn to the courthouse setting, Murphy presents these cases as anecdotes pertaining to "intriguing aspects of Japan" at large. He uses the trial of a mother and father who attempted to kill their daughter in an arsonous family suicide as a way to explore why Japan's suicide rate is twice that of the U.S. Another chapter describes the recent spike in shoplifters over the age of 70, labeled by one criminologist as bosou rojin ("out-of-control old people"). The shift in criminal activity in the elderly is the topic of a national debate about whether this segment of society has become too isolated and needy. Murphy creates a winning mix of irreverent and earnest observations in this snapshot of the underworld in modern Japan. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads; True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom." Publishers Weekly, 27 June 2016, p. 77. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA456900955&it=r&asid=9d977c012d3b104b9207114f15ff32af. Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A456900955
True Crime Japan: True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom
By
Fiona Guy -
18 July, 2016
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True Crime Japan tells of what happens between plea and sentencing in the Japanese courts in a fascinating crime book by journalist Paul Murphy.
“A middle-aged carpenter beats his 91-year old mother to death and goes to work the following day, leaving the body for his wife to find. An 82-year old woman is jailed for 10 months for stealing fried chicken. Like nearly all defendants in Japan, they both plead guilty.”
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A mother and father fear the imminent loss of the home they so lovingly built together. No longer able to afford it, they cannot imagine themselves having to live elsewhere or anyone else living in their home. Their answer was burn their beloved home to the ground. They would then take their own lives and the life of their 21-year-old daughter to avoid the shame and heartbreak of their home being taken away.
Their daughter, oblivious to their plans, escapes death when she does not fall asleep in the back of the car on the ill-fated trip designed to end in tragedy. In court, charged with attempted arson, their daughter supports her parents although admits they have never really discussed what had happened. “To leave her on her own would be bad” said her father, when questioned on his motives.
Japanese society and culture are quite different from Western culture. Values and morals are held in much higher regard and suicide, while viewed as devastating, can also be seen as an honourable “way out of shame or disgrace”.
Equally children are often not seen as independent from their parents, they are part of their parents and come as a unit. Therefore, in the eyes of Mr and Mrs Hara, to take their own lives and leave their daughter behind would not have been an acceptable act.
Related Reading: Parents Who Kill: Murderous Mothers and Fatal Fathers
This is just one case detailed in True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom. A fascinating book written by award-winning journalist Paul Murphy, who lived in Japan for many years and has written extensively in Japanese publications and newspapers. It is a book which explores the true crime cases of individuals who find themselves at Matsumoto District Court, 140 miles outside Tokyo.
Paul Murphy describes and narrates cases as they played out in front of him, bringing you into the courtroom with him as you read the questioning and the statements.
Interleaved within these cases are informational paragraphs which place these crimes and criminals within their social setting. As the author states in the introduction chapter, criminal proceedings in Japan are quite predictable when in comes to the plea from a defendant and their sentencing. What is intriguing and where things become interesting is “what happens in between”.
Audible Free Trial with AmazonPaul Murphy gives you some background and a foundation for your understanding of the culture surrounding the individuals standing in the dock. How these crimes pan out in Japan, how they are responded to and the kind of punishments given as a result.
Paul Murphy’s understanding of these processes shines through in his writing. He does not over complicate or throw statistics in to impress. He weaves such information effortlessly within the narrative resulting in welcome additions to case studies. Cases are presented respectfully but with a dash of humour. This is not a true crime book that could be described as grim despite some of the terrible crimes covered.
READ AN EXCERPT OF TRUE CRIME JAPAN
Gangsters, Mama’s Boys & Elderly Criminals
Observing case after case from inside the courtroom, Paul Murphy was able to document proceedings and follow-up on cases, talking to family members and friends, neighbours and the lawyers involved in their cases, giving him a unique perspective into the lives and crimes of those individuals.
In 2011, just one defendant in 723 throughout Japan was fortunate enough to be found not guilty.
Japan is not immune from the world of gangsters and has its fair share of hard-nosed characters involved in gang activity. The difference in approaches to dealing with criminal gang behaviour in Japan such as the demanding of protection money, running prostitution rings or the intimidation of residents to leave properties earmarked for development, is interesting.
“His friends vouched for him in court as a perfect gentleman, but Mr Kakiuchi looked like a hooligan; his face remained slightly scarred by the acne of his youth, and his right hand was missing most of its pinkie, a legacy of his yakuza days”.
For example, Yakuza members, where ‘Yakuza’ refers to organised crime groups, have become outcasts in Japan both socially and economically.
Measures have been put in place to prevent them from opening bank accounts, owning mobile phones and from legitimate businesses from having any dealings with them.
In 1992 the first ‘anti-yakuza’ law was passed requesting all groups to register the details of their members, allowing police to issue cease-and-desist orders where possible.
Some defendants detailed in True Crime Japan have sympathy extended to them and are treated compassionately from Paul Murphy such as many of the elderly criminals featured. Others are grouped into their appropriate categories including Gangsters, Perverts and Mama’s Boys. The range of crimes and criminals included ensures your interest is maintained. Furthermore, the light and at times humorous approach means pages continue to be turned.
Japanese Jail
Japanese criminal punishment is harsh with very few people being found not-guilty when they find themselves in court. Image Source: The Economist
Cases where individuals have confessed straight away to their crimes are covered in Fessing Up, a chapter dedicated to those who appear to have wanted their punishment or were simply to consumed with guilt to remain at large. This highlights the honesty amongst the Japanese people and a culture where lying and deceiving is frowned upon. However, it should not be forgotten that the laws in Japan are very strict and punishments for crime, even small-scale crime such as the theft of items from a supermarket, are harsh and consistent.
..there is a real incentive for courtroom honesty. Several lawyers estimated to me that where a defendant shows no remorse he can expect his prison term to be lengthened by approximately 15 percent.
The chapter Later In Life, showcases the crimes of the elderly in Japan and it was an eye-opening read. It was thought-provoking as it was fascinating and a clear example of the culture differences between Japanese society and Western society. The 82-year-old ‘tiny old lady’ charged with the theft of nine cutlets of fried chicken from a supermarket with this offense being her fourth time caught for shoplifting.
elderly-japan
Japan has seen a rise in crime committed by the elderly, often without much apparent motive. Image source Japandailypress.com
Just one of many examples of an elderly individual taking items from a shop despite having more than enough money to pay for them. Little explanation in these cases is given by the defendants when questioned in court. The best response that could be heard from them as to why they did not just pay for the items was ‘It’s a waste of money’.
Related Reading: Britain’s Most Notorious Prisoners
The writing in True Crime Japan is a joy to read. It is free-flowing and relaxed, sensibly organised and most importantly it is interesting, holding your attention and leaving you eager to read more. Case studies observed in the courts of Matsumoto are successfully mixed with insightful discussion on the Japanese prison system, the difference in values in Japanese culture; forgiveness and honesty and how we as a Western society may be able to learn from Japan.
What I particularly enjoyed about this book is that I learnt something from it. I felt educated about the cultural values and rules in Japan, learned of the contrasts between the more familiar UK and American penal systems and those in Japan and discovered an approach to crime and punishment which I knew very little about.
Paul Murphy’s journalistic experience is clear and not through any sensationalism of these cases but through quality writing which appeals and intrigues the reader. This book was enjoyable and enlightening to read from start to finish and for any true crime fan, especially those who wish to expand their understanding of crime in other cultures, True Crime Japan will not disappoint.
Book review: True Crime Japan - vignettes of nation through its court cases
Paul Murphy’s book reinforces idea that Japan is different, even if he has cherry-picked the trials he covers with empathy and apparent admiration for aspects of nation’s judicial system
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 16 August, 2016, 8:02am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 16 August, 2016, 12:11pm
Peter Gordon
Peter Gordon
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[The cover of Murphy’s book]
True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads; True Stories From a Japanese Courtroom by Paul Murphy
Tuttle
3.5 stars
Journalist Paul Murphy has spent a lot of time observing Japanese courtrooms.These stories, vignettes really, are drawn from the 119 cases he followed in Matsumoto, a city of 250,000 about 200km west of Tokyo.
The cases are in some ways banal – petty shoplifting, drug offences, pimping, arson, a murder or two – but Murphy uses them to tell a story about Japan.
One of the book’s themes is Japan’s very high conviction rate, over 99 per cent in the lower summary and district courts. Confessions and guilty pleas are very common. The most a defence attorney can usually hope for is a sentence reduction.
There may be – and probably is – something cultural in this, but Murphy also argues that it is structural: prosecutors only go to trial when the case is open and shut. (Murphy adds the caveat in an explanatory final chapter that the open-and-shut nature of a case is not always arrived at honestly.) This is correlated, he says, with relatively light and often suspended sentences for first and especially young offenders, giving them a second chance, as it were. The support (or lack thereof) of family and friends is taken into account.
[Students try on judges’ robes at a Tokyo courthouse ahead of a seminar about the reintroduction of trials by jury in Japan in 2005. Photo: AP]
Murphy sees much to admire in this system, although not all observers have been quite so sanguine.
It’s the stories themselves that make the book. Murphy is a fine, clear writer with a good eye for the telling anecdote. His characters are as well delineated as they are chosen, his descriptions are spare, and the protagonists are allowed to speak in their own voices.
The cases range from a crippled man beating his elderly mother to death to a mobster who blames police-induced stress for his drug taking; a trivial amount of marijuana sends a middle-class office worker to jail. An extraordinarily high percentage of Japanese convicts are elderly, often perpetrators of minor thefts for which, if the stories here are any indication, there was equally often no need. These appear to be the result of social alienation more than criminal intent.
[A prison guard watches elderly prisoners working during their daily labour shift at a prison near Hiroshima. Photo: AP]
Some cases are bizarre: the husband and wife who, after losing their house, burn it down and plan to drive off a cliff with their twentysomething daughter.
There is, it must be said, something of the voyeur in these accounts: courts seem to lay people bare and if Murphy’s accounts are anything to go by, Japan is no exception. But Murphy treats his subjects with compassion and empathy, while maintaining a journalist’s gimlet eye.
The result is a feeling that Japan, as seen through these courts cases, is different from other places, or at least from the United States, Britain and Murphy’s own Ireland. That may indeed be true, but Murphy has, of course, cherry-picked the cases that make the best stories. It seems somewhat unsafe to extrapolate from these vignettes to a general understanding about Japan.
[An execution chamber at a Tokyo prison. Photo: Reuters]
Murphy has an admirable desire to educate: the stories are interspersed with discussions about broader Japanese social themes, including a fascinating discussion of life in Japanese prisons. These excursions into pedagogy are natural for the most part, but can on occasion feel dutiful and an impediment to the narrative.
True Crime Japan will no doubt appeal to those with a penchant for things Japanese. However, for those who believe that justice is or should be universal in application, Murphy also describes an indication of a possible different path.
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Books / Reviews
Say you’re sorry: In court with Japan’s rascals, killers and dope heads
by Nicolas Gattig
Special To The Japan Times
Sep 17, 2016
Article history
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The Haras were a quiet, rather ordinary Japanese couple — until they resolved to burn down their house and drive themselves and their 20-year-old daughter off a cliff.
True Crime Japan, by Paul Murphy
256 pages
Tuttle, Nonfiction.
With their beloved home repossessed, they couldn’t endure the shame of the neighbors finding out why they moved. The last resort seemed to be arson and suicide, and as caring parents, they believed, they shouldn’t leave their daughter behind.
But their clumsy attempt at arson — involving kerosene heaters, towels and dried tofu — caused no major harm to the house, and the family suicide never happened. Driving around a mountainous countryside, the Haras couldn’t decide on a suitable cliff. Eventually they were picked up by the police.
This bizarre vignette is how journalist Paul Murphy opens his new book: “True Crime Japan — Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom.” As a fly on the wall at the Matsumoto Summary Court and the Matsumoto District Court in Nagano Prefecture, Murphy followed 119 cases through to sentencing, spending about 500 hours in the courtrooms and reporting the hearings verbatim.
It is morbidly thrilling to witness bad choices and the slide into illegality. But Murphy never exploits his subjects; instead, his deep research offers insights — at times instructive, at others sobering — into Japanese culture and how societal changes play out at the grassroots level.
Murphy explains pensioner crime, specifically the phenomenon of “silver shoplifting,” as a result of economic stagnation, which has anxious retirees make a habit of stealing food, despite having ample savings (some pensioners say it’s “a waste of money” to pay for the goods).
Likewise, the trial of a pimp shows how new laws have checked the yakuza by banning any commercial dealings with the mob. The defendant, who left the yakuza when it got harder for him to rent apartments or buy a cell phone, had started his own call-girl service.
“The courtroom provided windows into a society I’d always found somewhat opaque,” says Murphy, who had been living in Japan for eight years when he started the book. “The crime rate for Nagano Prefecture is close to Japan’s average, so the cases were pretty representative.”
Aside from grim entries on family killings, Murphy’s depictions of petty cases can be colorful. A mama’s boy holds up his colleagues to finance his wedding; a marijuana campaigner throws a pot party for a 100 guests, serving up homegrown supplies from his garden; and an elderly man is caught shoplifting weed killer at a convenience store — after paying his cab fare to the scene of the crime.
“There were times when I was dumbfounded by what I saw: some of it comical, some farcical and some amazing,” says Murphy, whose prose style is journalistic, but aware of humorous nuance. “I also was shocked to see how intimately Japanese people talked about their lives in court,” he adds. “Each hearing is scheduled for only an hour, so there is no time for Japanese ambiguity.”
The honesty, however, is also strategic. Japanese courts convict 99 percent of the accused, as prosecutors won’t bring a case unless guilt seems certain. With hardly a chance for acquittal, the defense’s main hope is to reduce the sentence through confession and a guilty plea. The focus is on remorse and reform — and having the accused cooperate.
Unlike in the West, there is little denial in Japanese hearings, no competing versions of events. Even yakuza members eventually follow protocol, such as the freelance pimp who bows to the judge and proclaims: “I am looking for a long sentence so I can fix myself.”
Defendants will often pay compensation to victims and write them a letter of reflection, expressing regret for their deeds and promising rectitude in the future. Conversely, not saying sorry can be costly.
“Insufficient remorse can add to a prison sentence by around 15 percent,” says Murphy. “So in the trials I saw, the defendants’ remorse was extreme. And there was no attempt to make the accused person look good. Mothers spoke disdainfully about their sons. The defense lawyers’ tone with their clients was critical, almost belligerent. In front of the judge, they’d say things like, ‘I’m at a loss for words when I look at all you did.’ “
To some, the Japanese justice system may seem farcical — a Kafkaesque set of kangaroo courts. But Murphy concludes that, despite its imperfections, the system works well overall. There have been high-profile incidents of wrongful convictions — often involving coerced confessions during long-term detentions without charge — but, as a rule, the prosecution’s preparations are meticulous.
The book succeeds as an erudite guide to Japanese courts. But, beyond that, Murphy’s calm and compassionate voice, while always objective, appreciates cultural differences. Instead of assessing, he aims for understanding — even when it comes to characters as puzzling as the Haras, who loved their daughter so much they tried to kill her.
True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories From a Japanese Courtroom by Paul Murphy
by Howard Leighton on February 6, 2017
As stated in his introduction, Paul Murphy spent a 12 month period following 119 cases in the courts of Matsumoto City, which is located in central Japan. He apparently moved there in 2013 with “…my Japanese wife and two sons.” He had resided in Japan for approximately 20 years working as a writer and reporter, and understands the language. In addition to following the cases from beginning to end he interviewed a number of individuals involved in the cases from police, lawyers, defendants, to victims, neighbors, and families. The cases are presented in groupings (gangsters, mother killers, drugs…), which allow an examination of how the system treats these crimes as well as a look at elements of the Japanese society.
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The very first case presented came to light as a failed attempt at arson. It has many elements that allow exploration of the societal structure, beliefs, and stresses. In this case there was pride of ownership, financial problems, marital difficulties, filial difficulties, attempted murder, and suicide. As the cases are read, it becomes clear there are significant differences between the Japanese and American society. Much of the difference is predicated on the homogeneity of the society, significant and rigid separation of male and female roles in life, isolation of emotions and from others.
The legal system is demonstrated to also be significantly different than the American system. There is no presumption of innocence. The vast majority confess and acknowledge their crime, with apology to the victims, the families of the victim, the defendant, and others. There is frequently financial compensation. All of this has an impact on the severity of the punishment. There is questioning of the defendant by the lawyers (both defendant and prosecutor) and the judge, much of it seeking and expecting admission of guilt and apology. Over the course of the year, Mr. Murphy did not witness a single non-guilty verdict. This also points to the structure of the legal system with the prosecutors presenting only cases they are sure are guilty.
In the next to the last chapter Mr. Murphy presents a summary of the legal system of Japan including his observations of the prisons, the use of forgiveness, the effect of education of the nation, the lack of ghettos, and the use of citizen judges. Overall this book was fascinating and well presented as to the legal system of Japan and its societal differences with America.
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