253: Phoenix Wright's Objection!

[Fintan Monaghan]

Phoenix Wright's Objection!

The courtrooms and investigations portrayed in the Phoenix Wright series may seem cartoonish or over-the-top, but, as Fintan Monaghan shows us, they accurately criticize the faults of the Japanese legal system and the series may actually bring about legal reform.

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[Hutchy_Bear]

Jesus Christ! That was horrifying! I mean the article was excellent and horrifingly illuminating but the points and issued raised are deeply disturbing. I can't believe confessions are the "king of evidence" I mean bloody hell you deprive a person of something long enough and they'll tell you they were Jack the Ripper, whether it is the truth or not.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Shit...their legal system actually resembles THAT?

A very timely article, as I was just playing Miles Edgeworth this morning. And...*ahem*...my title under my username.

As a long time fan of the series, I am shocked as hell to learn this. And now...that explains all the stuff from Apollo Justice. I was wondering why the series took a turn for the extremely serious for the last parts of that game.

 

[LongAndShort]

Wow. I hope I don't get arrested if I ever go to Japan. I didn't realize just how close of a parody the games are. 150% rise in crime despite a 99% conviction rate? Its taken them this long to realize there's something wrong with that?

Good to see some video games working positively to affect society, but I can't help but feel that when it comes to such an important topic, they shouldn't have to in the first place.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I've played most of the Ace Attorney games-- if I recall correctly, at least two of them involved interrogating the spirits of deceased persons through psychic mediums. Courtrooms in Japan must be intense.

 

[karhell]

I'm actually having trouble believing what I just read...
The odds of being convicted are 99 to 1 ? Just how fair is that ?
I suspect quite a few of those convicted were actually guilty, but that much is just... too much

 

[AboveUp]

I knew Japan was screwed up, but not to this extent.

No wonder when polled, it turned out that Japan has the least amount of pride or confidence in their own country of all others that took part in the poll. (for lack of better link, I'm linking to this: http://www.japanator.com/not-so-glorious-nippon-japan-the-world-s-least-proud-nation-11696.phtml)

Now I'm also beginning to see why there are so many warnings given to foreigners about the police if they go to Japan. It's not just that they're unfair to foreigners as if often stated, but more that legal system is just completely messed up.

Phoenix Wright might have just been a higher quality series than I already thought it was. Whoever came with the idea sure has balls to address this problem. Heck, a high profile company like Capcom has balls for releasing this to the public and even worse, outside of Japan.

A very timely article, as I was just playing Miles Edgeworth this morning. And...*ahem*...my title.

Yeah, same here. I was playing Trials and Tribulations myself last night.

 

[maninahat]

If you are charged with a crime in Japan and brought to trial, statistics show that there is a 99 percent chance that you will be convicted. This alarming statistic reveals the highly dysfunctional legal system from which the Ace Attorney series clearly takes its inspiration; a system where even a victim of false allegations finds it impossible to escape conviction.

Wait a minute, before we start misleading people with the statistics. The high percentage could simply refer to the fact that police do not trial individuals unless they are sure they have compiled enough evidence to guarantee a conviction. Whilst other countries do not have a percentage as high, the police in most countries will try to avoid expensive trials as much as possible unless tehy have everything they need to prove the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. If at the end of a trial, someone is found innocent, it means the police investigation and criminal process has been a waste of money (they were chasing the wrong guys and they could have spent that money persuing real criminals).

The percentage is pretty high. I don't know how it compares to most other countries, but that could simply say that the Japanese police are even more cautious than other nations. I think Phoenix Wright is about as indicative of the flaws of the Japanese judicial system as Harvey Birdman: Atorney at Law or Perry Mason is of the American system. All these shows have the same damn court drama tropes anyway.

I hate statistics. It is so easy to create a wrong impression with them, simply if a reader has not thought to study the context in advance. I did a bit of reading of my own, and found that whilst the conviction rate in Japan is indeed 99% (compared to America's 60-80% and the UKs 72-6%), 70% of criminal cases took up by the police in Japan are not brought to the prosecutor in the first place (for various reasons such as lack of evidence, lack of witnesses, likelyhood of an accident etc.).

I am planning to look into this deeper, as comparing crime statistics between countries is especially difficult (certain things that count as misdemeanor in one country counts as a serious crime in another, which complicates matters).

 

[Hirvox]

Wait a minute, before we start misleading people with the statistics. The high percentage could simply refer to the fact that police do not trial individuals unless they are sure they have compiled enough evidence to guarantee a conviction. Whilst other countries do not have a percentage as high, the police in most countries will try to avoid expensive trials as much as possible. If at the end of a trial, someone is found innocent, it means the police investigation and criminal process has been a waste of money (they were chasing the wrong guys and they could have spent that money persuing real criminals).

True, which is why that statistic is only a part of the issue. The main issue is that it's too easy to skew the case in favor of the prosecutor. In other jurisdictions, the stated principle to err in favor of the defendant dissuades prosecutors from proceeding with flimsy evidence.

 

[Brad Shepard]

This is perfect timing, i just bought 2 of the games yesterday.

Good artical all the same.

 

[Frybird]

Once again i learn something about Japan that seems to me to be just wrong.

While i wouldn't count it to be one of the worst countries, i am very convinced that, thanks to the strange influence of tradition, Japan is a weird and mostly, very very scary place to live.


...And thanks to this article i suddenly realized just how badly the police gets portrayed in japanese Manga, Anime and even some movies. Things like Death Note, Dragonball, Ju-On, Ghost in the Shell and others came to mind.

 

[Ravek]

Typical how the author suggests that the best way to fix it is a jury system, which is probably the single worst idea in American court proceedings.

 

[maninahat]

I read this very insightful essay on the subject called "Why is the Japanese Rate of Conviction So High?[/i].
http://129.3.20.41/eps/le/papers/9907/9907001.pdf

It concludes:
* Japanese prosecutors have limited resources and only pick the cases that are assured success
* Judges look down on prosecutors who have not prepared their cases well
* The overall incarceration level in Japan is low.

The article suggests that Japan's issues with crime (like the prosecutors refusal to take cases wherein the defendant's guilt is dubious) mostly stems from a lack of budget and staff. It does not suggest that the Japanese system is corrupted or biased to the point where a trial verdicts cannot be trusted (quite the opposite in fact).

There is no denying that pushing for a jury system may improve the system however. This should take a little weight off both the understaffed prosecutors and the hard pressed lawyers for the defence.

 

[GrinningManiac]

Fascinating. I had no idea...

I read this very insightful essay on the subject called "Why is the Japanese Rate of Conviction So High?[/i].
http://129.3.20.41/eps/le/papers/9907/9907001.pdf

It concludes:
* Japanese prosecutors have limited resources and only pick the cases that are assured success
* Judges look down on prosecutors who have not prepared their cases well
* The overall incarceration level in Japan is low.

The article suggests that Japan's issues with crime (like the prosecutors refusal to take cases wherein the defendant's guilt is dubious) mostly stems from a lack of budget and staff. It does not suggest that the Japanese system is corrupted or biased to the point where a trial verdicts cannot be trusted (quite the opposite in fact).

There is no denying that pushing for a jury system may improve the system however. This should take a little weight off both the understaffed prosecutors and the hard pressed lawyers for the defence.

And this just makes it doubly fascinating!

This whole system is deeply flawed, either way you look at it

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Incredible, I never thought of Phoenix Wright that way. I didn't realize it was actually making non to subtle references to the Japanese court system. Well, you learn something new everyday. I know our system isn't the greatest but the bulk of the power belongs to the jury, not the prosecuter.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

To think that my constant ranting about having proved reasonable doubt an hour ago in said games have a real world parallel is kind of disturbing...

I always assumed that Phoenix Wright was just over simplifying things so we could have "good vs. evil" in the court room.

 

[Rogue 9]

That was a really interesting read. I've long been curious as to what had shaped the legal system within the Ace Attorney games. It's interesting, and not a little bit scary, to find some of the most outrageous seeming aspects of the series have their roots in actual situations in the Japanese legal system.

 

[Jared]

That was actually really, really intresting. I never imagined it could have been so closly linked (I knew about the high prosecution level...but, all the links, wow)

Goes to show really how PW could be so loved in Japan. Its almost trying to prove that, despite how bad the system, there is some hope

 

[Dora]

Interesting. I never considered a game as cartoonishly overblown as Phoenix Wright to have any real basis in the world whatsoever. In fact, I'm really surprised to hear, in particular, about the prosecutors overseeing investigations in some cases, since that tends to be a widely sneered at gimmick. (Particularly in courtroom fictional dramas)

The statistics are kind of alarming, though. It made me remember a documentary I saw once about this kind of thing that didn't really register at the time. It basically said that if you're accused of a crime in Japan and it goes to trial, you might as well consider yourself guilty and focus instead on trying to get the lightest punishment you can rather than proving your innocence. It's a little disheartening.

Of course, I come from Canada, where we'll believe you're innocent as long as we can't see your fingers crossed behind your back, so I admit to being fairly idealistic. "Yeah, he had the knife 'n all, but he said he didn't do it, and it's not like he'd lie, eh?"