Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 146, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1919 — Japanese Courts Simple and Quiet [ARTICLE]

Japanese Courts Simple and Quiet

No Wrangling of Counsdl Allowed and Sentences Generally Are Fair. CASES TRIED WITHOUT JURY Many Unusual Points of Difference Between American Tribunals and Their Counterparts in JapanMinor Cases to Police. Tokyo.—A Japanese criminal court Is almost as difficult to get Into as a spectator as it is difficult to get out of as a prisoner, but there are enough unf usual points of difference between American tribunals and their counterparts in Japan to make at least one visit instructive, if not profitable. Criminal trials in Japan are public, ! but not blatantly so, and idle curiosity is not encouraged. To be permitted to even enter the grounds surrounding the "court buildings one must secure the formal permission of the I stern police official at the gate, and that, permission is only secured through the presentation of some good reason why the solicitor should be permitted ! to pass. Once past the guardian of the gate, however, one may pfobeed into the I courtroom itself without trouble, provided always that he removes his bat i immediately he enters the building, removes his overcoat, if he happens to he wearing one, walks quietly and ; holds his remarks and questions down to a faint whisper. In the main courthouse in Tokyo, which houses the supreme court and the various local' courts, corresponding to the American circuit courts, the corridors are lined during the session by be-sworded gen- | darmes, between the-rows of which the oner with business before the judges wanly walks. No chance is lost to i impress upon everyone the fact that the dignity of the law in Japan is something which must not be trifled | with. Minor Cases to Police. .. Ordinary police court cases in Japan are disposed of in the police stations 1 -themselves* and the police inspectors in charge have the power to exercise a wide discretion. Ordinary drunks, of <£hom thebe are very few, considering that almost every corner grocery store and every tea house and restaurant sells intoxicants, and there are shops every hundred yards

most every street, are simply kept long enough to sober up and are discharged with a stern warning. Once he has been sent to headquarters a prisoner’s troubles commence. As a preliminary to all else he is photographed and finger printed, a decided reversal of the American principle, which bars a man from the rogues’ gallery until he has been cdnvicted of a- felony. From the photograph room and the ink pad the prisoner passes on for his “examination,” a legalized third degree, held in an underground room where, without benefit of counsel, he is sweated, perhaps for several days In succession. Then after waiting his turn the prisoner goes to the local court, where he faces a bench of usually four judges, one of whom is head judge and who does all the questioning of the witnesses. On the bench also sits the prosecuting lawyer, with the lawyer for the defense occupying a desk and seat immediately facing the head judg-i Everything is solemn, everything is decorous and, without a jury to impress, there are none of those flights of oratory with which the American lawyers call upon heaven to witness either the scandalous nature of the prisoner’s crime or the halo of innocence so plain to the attorney for the defense. The prisoners sit in a prisoners’ box until their case is called, when thejxstand one by one before the judges and are polished off in rapid succession. Handling of Prisoners. The handling of the prisoners is pure Japanese, however. Delivered at the courthouse for trial, the prisoners are marched from the police wagon in single file handcuffed and tied together by a stout rope that circles each man’s waist and is twisted through his obi. The most unusual feature of all to a stranger is the fact that each prisoner' has his head covered by a wicker mask, more like an inverted wastepaper basket than anything else, the object of which is to prevent recognition of the prisoner, to permit him to hide 4 his shame under the disguise and, very possibly, to prevent the whole file from 1 making a bolt for. liberty. The sight of a prisoner so arrayed is ghastly, the mask bringing up the suggestion of the hangman’s cap. Once in the prisoners’ box, however, the masks are removed, while the prisoners sit with deeply bowed heads In an attitude of the. utmost humility. Japanese courts have the name of being fair and the bench is hanestv -