Gov't shows possible options for statute of limitations review+

TOKYO, April 3 Kyodo - The Justice Ministry presented in its interim report released Friday possible options that may be considered if Japan decides to review its statute of limitations on serious crimes such as murder, including the abolishment and
extension of the limitations periods.

Following a two-month study by the ministry, Justice Minister Eisuke Mori said,
''We will continue holding study sessions and hear opinions from victim groups,
experts and other related organs...so that we can present a certain direction
by around summer this year (on the matter).''
While calling the report ''extremely significant basic information,'' Mori
added that the ministry has ''not decided anything'' at the moment on whether
to review the system, which has a history more than a century long.
Although limitations periods for murder and other crimes were extended in the
2005 legal revision, the ministry took up the matter again from Jan. 22 in
light of growing demand from relatives of crime victims for a review of the
system.
Yoshiyuki Miyazawa, who heads a recently-launched group of relatives of murder
victims calling for a change in the system, said that he personally hopes that
the discussion will focus on the option of abolishment and expressed hope for
the creation of legislation that is ''convincing to the overall public.''
The ministry is expected to work out its basic idea by August. If the review is
realized, it will bring a major change to Japan's criminal policy.
In considering whether to review the system, the report stressed that it is
necessary to ''fully take into account the awareness of the people, mainly
victims, about the current statute of limitations system,'' while referring to
another point of the argument as to whether it is necessary to review the Code
of Criminal Procedure within only several years since the last revision.
As options to review the system, the report cited the abolishment of the
system, the extension of the limitations periods, the introduction of a system
to enable prosecutors to indict suspects based on DNA evidence, even if their
names are unknown, and another system that will enable prosecutors to ask
courts to suspend the limitations when ''certain solid evidence'' exists.
The abolishment of the limitations for certain crimes is ''concise and easy to
understand,'' the report noted, but at the same time, it said it is necessary
to consider whether ''the time frame for keeping investigators on the case or
storing investigative records and material evidence can be set.''
Meanwhile, extending the limitations period ''will have relatively less
discrepancy with the current system,'' but will not completely dispel anxiety
that perpetrators cannot be punished even when they are identified, according
to the report.
On the option of introducing a system similar to the so-called ''John Doe'' DNA
complaints in the United States, the report said such a way of indictment is
''largely different from the traditional concept of indictment'' and that there
is ''considerable difficulty'' in adopting it.
Under the revised Code of Criminal Procedure, the limitations period for
capital crimes such as murder was extended to 25 years from 15 years and that
for robbery resulting in bodily injury to 15 years from 10 years.
Statute of limitations periods, an idea which Japan adopted from France in its
law which became effective in 1882, are commonly believed to have been
introduced because evidence can be scattered or lost over time, making it
difficult to prove who committed a crime. Another reason is that demands for
harsh penalties can wane with the passage of time.
But proving crimes in court, even after many years have elapsed, has become
less challenging recently due to advances in criminal investigations
technology, such as DNA analysis, which have made it possible to preserve
evidence over a long period of time.
In late February, 20 relatives of murder victims, including 80-year-old
Miyazawa, formed a group to press the state to abolish the limitations for
homicide cases, stressing that they cannot accept that perpetrators are able to
evade punishment no matter how much time passes.
An Irie, another member of the group ''Sora no Kai,'' said she believes the
''expeditious'' move by the ministry to start studying the matter shows the
authorities ''understand well the incoherency of the current situation'' when
considering public sentiment and other countries' legal systems.
Both Miyazawa and Irie are relatives of a four-member family that was killed in
Tokyo's Setagaya Ward in 2000.
==Kyodo
2009-04-03 21:00:59