mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:

> Eric Takabayashi <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
> > mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:
>
> >> Which isn't the question, now, is it?
>
> > People can and already do, treat me as they want, as a criminal or otherwise.
>
> Sorry, but that's nonsense.

But it is true.

> People cannot call the police to have you returned to jail, etc.

I cannot be "returned" to jail, because except for one ticket for carelessly
driving through a red light in 1986 (ie, not deliberately, I was just too nervous
because I had two drunk female schoolmates and a boy Japanese exchange student in
the car, going home from an illegal party), I have never been punished for my non
driving related crimes.

No, but they can call to have me and my definite crimes investigated, or to be
arrested and put in jail for what I have done in the first place, or they can give
me vigilante justice to their hearts' content far beyond any applicable legal
penalty, or treat me with general contempt as a criminal, discriminating against
me and my family in various aspects of life, particularly here in Japan, where
image is so important, and where police and Immigration are standing by (perhaps
with dedicated phone service or website) to hear people's complaints, particularly
about foreigners. It would seem most people do not do this to me or us.

When I say "can", I do not mean I want any of this to happen, but there is little
I can do to prevent it, as people do what they please. In the case of having my
crimes reported or investigated, I do not hinder victims, concerned or offended
parties or NG readers, or law enforcement, in any way. The only time I will ever
get an attorney of my own accord (as in demanding one during investigation or
hiring one for legal proceedings) is if I am FALSELY accused, like if some woman I
have never met, or some woman I do know, claims I touched her or raped her, with
no witnesses or with her coconspirators (it has happened) standing by. I am not
going to withhold what I know from law enforcement, or claim my person or property
cannot be searched for useful evidence.

> The police themselves cannot chuck you in jail "just in case."

Police in Japan can legally hold me 23 days IIRC, or even longer in special cases,
while they question me up to 16 hours a day with no family contact or attorney, on
whatever charge people or police can come up with. They can (it is done) deny bail
or release (particularly as a flight risk), keeping me locked up for years while
they investigate or await trial if any. Though illegal, police or prosecutors also
"can" use physical methods of interrogation such as beatings, which is not
surprising in Japan. They might even file completely false reports or fabricate
evidence to have me put away because they feel like it or it serves their
purposes.

It is done in Japan. It is most definitely not "nonsense".

> You are afforded the protections of "innocent until proven guilty".

Not in Japan, where people (though illegal) have been proven to be punished for
coerced or false confession or circumstantial evidence, as well as falsified
evidence, alone, and a perusal of the annual White Paper on Crime (maintained
online at least five years out of date) shows a trial conviction rate of OVER
99.9%. IIRC, just 52 acquittals nationwide in the last year I saw available.

Is Japanese society so decent, or Japanese law enforcement so damned effective in
uncovering and proving crime?

No.

It is also true that people can be locked up for years while the law figures out
what to do with "suspects". Trials (and appeals), even for something as simple as
an allegedly false claim of putting one's hand on a high school girl on a train
with no other witnesses, take years, perhaps also while the "suspect" is locked up
the entire time, and even when the first trial finds the defendant not guilty.
 That's right. Prosecution can appeal in Japan if they are not satisfied with a
"not guilty" verdict or even with the result in a "guilty" verdict.

> That's not the case in many parts of the world.

Do you see why we should not limit ourselves to the US Constitution or what occurs
in the US?