Criminal
Lay judge trials, 23-day pre-charge detention, and retained capital punishment
Serious cases are tried by a mixed panel of three judges and six lay judges. Police and prosecutors may hold a suspect for up to 23 days before charge, and the death penalty remains in use.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — District courts with lay judge panels for serious offences; high courts on appeal; Supreme Court finally.
- Deadline — 48 hours police detention, then 24 hours to the judge, then up to two 10-day extensions
- Deadline — Appeal within 14 days of judgment
Governing law
- Penal Code of Japan
- Code of Criminal Procedure
- Act on Criminal Trials with Participation of Saiban-in2009
Penalties and consequences
- Death by hanging, retained and carried out
- Imprisonment, with the separate categories of penal servitude and imprisonment unified from 2025
In practice
The 23-day pre-charge detention period, combined with interrogation without counsel present, has drawn repeated criticism from UN treaty bodies and is the core of what critics call hostage justice, since release often follows confession. Conviction rates exceed 99 per cent of prosecuted cases, partly because prosecutors decline weak cases. Recording of interrogations became mandatory for lay-judge and prosecution-led cases in 2019. The 2016 reforms introduced a limited plea-bargaining mechanism for organised and economic crime.