Details of confessions to be taped

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office plans to start the audio and video recording of all interrogations of suspects who have confessed to prosecutors from April in all cases that would be handled under the lay judge system to be launched next year, prosecutors said Friday.

The decision was revealed in the final report of the top prosecutors office on the effectiveness of recording interrogations.

However, the report declined to recommend the recording of all stages of the interrogation process because it says this might make it difficult for suspects to confess to offenses.

The report also detailed a set of guidelines for the recordings, such as not stopping recordings without approval and not editing recordings.

The National Police Agency, which had expressed strong opposition to the recording of interrogations, has also decided to introduce the system on a trial basis.

With the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office decision to record interrogations in all types of cases to be handled by lay judges, Japan's criminal investigation system, which has been criticized for being conducted behind closed doors, is likely to reach a watershed, observers said.

In August 2006 the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office started recording interrogations of suspects on a trial basis as a means of proving that their confessions were not coerced. Up to December, prosecutors recorded the interrogations of suspects in 170 cases.

The final report said the recording of interrogations would function as effective evidence in helping lay judges determine whether confessions were made voluntarily.

The report concluded that the audio and visual recording of interrogations should take place in all cases to be handled by lay judges in principle, as long as this did not interfere with the investigation process.

Of all cases to be handled by lay judges, interrogations would only be recorded in cases in which suspects have already made confessions.

If suspects have denied their involvement in their respective cases, their interrogations by prosecutors will not be recorded because there would be no confession whose legitimacy could be disputed in the court, the report said.

Other cases in which the audio and video recording of interrogations will not be mandatory include the following cases:

-- When a suspect refuses to answer questions asked by prosecutors out of fear of retaliation by members of organized crime syndicates or other parties, or if there is a possibility that the suspect's relatives or other parties might subsequently become the subject of attacks.

-- When an interpreter refuses to cooperate with investigators questioning a non-Japanese suspect.

-- When a suspect refuses to allow the recording of the interrogations.
(Mar. 22, 2008)