On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 00:30:04 GMT, "necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com>
brought down from the Mount tablets inscribed:

>"Ryan Ginstrom" <ginstrom@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:2mqu0jFp3kqjU1@uni-berlin.de...
>> Michael Cash wrote:
>> > Murder is 15 to life (or death by hanging), usually with parole in
>> > about 10 years.
>>
>> Question for you Mike:
>>
>> On a 15-to-life sentence, when is the actual length of the sentence
>decided,
>> and who decides it?
>
>In Japan? At the conclusion of the trial and it is decided by the panel of
>judges.

Actually, it is 無期懲役 and is an open-ended sentence. In effect, it
is a life sentence. I'm sure you know about how in the US (for
example) a person can be paroled from prison prior to completion of a
sentence, but may be returned to prison to complete the unserved
portion of the sentence for parole violation.

With 無期懲役 the same thing applies, but there is no end date for the
sentence. So until the day a guy dies, he can be slapped back in the
slam for parole violation. Japanese law divides sentences into
有期懲役 and 無期懲役. The former is for sentences less than 15 years,
the latter is from 15 years until the day you die. Normally parole
won't be considered until at least 2/3 of a sentence has been served,
so the earliest those guys would be considered is at about the 10 year
point. Both when and if they get out are matters for a parole board,
with judges playing no role that I am aware of.




--

Michael Cash

"I am sorry, Mr. Cash, but we are unable to accept your rap sheet in lieu of
a high school transcript."

                                Dr. Howard Sprague
                                Dean of Admissions
                                Mount Pilot College