JAPANESE JUSTICE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14038, 22 April 1920, Page 8

JAPANESE JUSTICE.

"Criminal trials in Japan are public, but not blatantly so," suys R. O. • Mathe-. scn lii an article-on tire procedure-in Japanese Courts written iYo'm Tokio for the "X'B\v, York" Seriild.'' Only persons who can uhow that they have a good reason for _wishing to; gain'entrance. .are admit-, ted. K'ofc only are visitors admitted with reluctance, but there seems to be a ciis'pdsitioil to keep out lawsuits as well. Thus Sbjiumber of cases which in America would furnish an excuse for protracted grinding : of the judicial mill are settled in Japan by the policemen 011 their beats or at the police station. Police inspectors in charge liave the power to- exercise * a wide discretion. Ordinary . "drunks," of. wlioin there are very few, considering lirnv many shops sell intoxicants, are siir.ply kept long enough to sober up, and: axe discharged with a stern warning. Domestic squabbles are settled by the policemen on their beats. Street brails are. rare, and offenders are usually made to perform profound apologies to each other and the police, \aud are let go. Cther minor offenders are punished b.v the ccave the Inspectors me always able . to cause them, while the more serious violators of law are passed 011 to the headquarters of the niotropolitau police, and then into the local courts. Once he has been sent to headquarters a prisoner's begin. As a preli- I miaary to all else he is photographed afid finger-printed, a decided reversal of the American principle, which bars a man from the "Rogues Gal'ery'' until be ha* | been convicted of a" felony. "From the photograph room and the inkpad the . prisoner passes 011 for his "examination," a legalised third decree, held hi an underground room, where, without" benefit of counsel, he is severely "examined," perhaps for several days in succession, - though the law prohibits the holding of a man without a definite' charge for more than. hourc. A similar law is evaded in America by rearresting the prisoner at the end of each day, but in Japan they keep the fact of a suspect's arrest a secret, -and there is no booking to' help inquiring friends, if any ave -foolish enough to run their own necks into a noose by making enquiries. The examinations are legal, however, and are always held "in camera," following which the prisoner is cither leiensed or committed 'or trial. The Japanese Bench usually consist of four Judges. One of whom conducts the questioning of the prisoner; With the Judges sits also the Public Prosecutor. ftitd a few feet away, facing the Bench, is the df.-k for the lawyer for the defence. Judges and lawyers are all gowned ii; I stiff black costumes, and nil wear caps of black trape. The handling of the pri-r.o'if-rs is pure Japanese. . Delivered at the courthouse for trial, they are marched from the public waggon in single fi.e, handcuffed, and tied together, l.y a. stout n;po til fit encircles each man's wai.-t and ; s twisted through his obi. Their gaol kimonas are of dul; drab, and on their so.'klcss feet are grass sandals, in which lh: y fir p through the corridors. The most unusual feature of al! to a stranger is the fact that each prisoner has bu head covered by a wicker mask, more iike an inverted waste-paper basket than anything else, the object of which is to prevent. recognition of the prisoner/ to permit him to hide his shame under the disguise, aud, very possibly, to prevent the whole file from making a bolt for •iberty. ' The sight of a prisoner so arrayed is ghastly, the mask bringing up the suggestion of the hangman's cap.. Once in the prisoner's box the masks are removed, while the prisoners sit with deeply-bowed heifds in an attitude of the utmost humility. Japanese Courts have the name of being fair, and the Bench is honest. A re--.*!.it charge of spite made against one of the procurators in Kobe was so much of a ranty that it attracted attention- all over the Empire, aud was investigated immediately with a thoroughness that leit tio ground for suspicion of sympathy on the part- of tiie Bench generally.