Contents

Introduction

Why Japanese Prosecutors?

Research Methods

An Overview of the Criminal Process

An Overview of the Book

I            The Contexts of Japanese Justice

1            Paradise for a Prosecutor

Little Crime

Light Caseloads

Quiescent Politics

Enabling Law

No Juries

Conclusion

2            Prosecutors and the Criminal Court Community

Prosecutors and Police

Prosecutors and Judges

Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys

Conclusion

3            Prosecutor Culture

Who Are the Prosecutors?

What Do Prosecutors Want?

Suspension of Prosecution and the Exercise of Discretion

Conclusion

4          The Organization of Prosecution

Structure

Roles and Tasks

Operators: Uncovering and Constructing the Truth

Managers: Cultivating Mission and Controlling Operators

Executives: Securing Autonomy and Maintaining the Organization

The Kanemaru Case: The Day Support Sank

Conclusion

II            The Content of Japanese Justice

5            Consistency

Scenes from Home and Abroad

The Limits of Order in American Prosecution

The Possibility of Order in Japanese Prosecution

Explaining Consistency

The Culture of Prosecution

The Structure of Prosecution

Conclusion

6            Corrections

“Dear Prosecutor: Thanks!”

On “Correction”

Judging Correctability

Mechanisms of Correction

The Limits of Leniency

Japan’s Two Systems

Correcting Victims

Conclusion

7            Convictions

Calculating Conviction Rates

Explaining the Gap

Checking the Prosecutors: External Controls

The Checking Prosecutors: Internal Controls

The Origins of Trial Sufficiency Policy

The Long Decline

The Consequences of Conservatism

8            Confessions

Plea Bargaining

Prosecutor Essays

Prosecutor Brutality and the Third Degree

Precise Justice and Problems in Paradise

Choices

Appendix            The Survey: Prosecutors’ Attitudes and Activities

Notes

References