Japan is known for being one of the countries with the lowest crime rate in the world. Numerous reasons are given for this such as the illegality of weapons a smaller wealth gap or unspoken rules of conduct that people live by.

日本被認為是世界上犯罪率最低的國家之一。許多人將這歸結于持槍非法、貧富差距較小以及人們潛意識的生活習慣之類的原因。

But one other factor behind such low crime could have a darker reason to it: fear of the Japanese legal system.

但是在這么低的犯罪率背后另一個更深層的因素是：人們對日本法律系統的畏懼。

Al Jazeera news recently put out a documentary on that very subject showing one of the scarier parts of Japan that most people don’t have experience with. The full video is below.

最近半島電視臺資訊發布了一部紀錄片展示了大多數人沒經歷過的日本最恐怖的部分之一。完整視頻如下。

The documentary follows the story of Keiko Aoki a woman who in 1995 was convicted of setting her house on fire and intentionally murdering her daughter to collect life insurance money. Her conviction was based solely on her and her husband’s written confessions that they claimed were made under extreme duress.

這部紀錄片講述了一位叫洼田青木的女人的故事，她于1995年因涉嫌在自己的房子里放火并蓄意謀殺她的女兒以獲取人壽保險的錢而被判為有罪。她的罪名僅僅因為她和她丈夫在他們受到極端脅迫下寫的懺悔書就成立了。

Keiko and her husband spent the next 20 years in jail claiming they were innocent the entire time. It wasn’t until earlier this year that the verdict for their retrial was finally delivered proclaiming them not guilty.

惠子和她丈夫在接下來的20年牢獄生涯中，一直聲稱自己是無辜的。但是直到今年早些時候，對他們案件重審的判決書才下達，終于宣判他們無罪。

But why would someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? Put simply the documentary claims that the Japanese legal system is designed to extract confessions no matter what.

但是為什么會有人對他們沒有犯下的罪行認罪？簡單地說，這部紀錄片聲稱，日本司法系統的設計就是讓你采取各種手段逼供。

In Keiko’s case she was held in an interrogation room with police investigators who constantly yelled and berated her for 12 hours straight. She was never allowed to see a lawyer. Eventually she was told by police that her husband had already confessed to the crime so she should too. Mentally destroyed she gave up and wrote a confession dictated to her by police.

具體到惠子的案件，她被關在審訊室里，警方調查人員連續對她咆哮了12小時，不停地痛罵她。她根本沒法見律師。最后，警察告訴她，她丈夫已經認罪了，所以她也得認罪。心理防線徹底崩潰的她，放棄了抵抗，按照警察的授意寫了認罪書。

Keiko claims that confusion exhaustion and the guilt of not being able to save her daughter came together to make her admit to a crime she was innocent of.

惠子聲稱，困惑、疲憊不堪和沒有把女兒救回來的負疚感交織在一起，令她承認了一樁其實她完全無辜的罪行。

In Japan anyone can be held by police for 23 days without being charged. Lawyers are not allowed in interrogation rooms and police are not required to record any of the interrogation sessions. As Hiroshi Ichikawa a former Japanese prosecutor described investigators can just rotate in and out as they get tired of questioning the suspect until he or she is so mentally exhausted that they will admit to anything to make it stop.

在日本，任何人都可以在沒有被起訴的情況下，被警方羈押23天。在此期間律師不允許進入審訊室，而警察也無需記錄任何審問內容。一位名叫市川浩志的日本前檢察官說，調查人員如果審問犯罪嫌疑人累了，就可以換班，直到他或她心力交瘁最后什么都認了才停止。

But why is the Japanese legal system so intense when it comes to extracting confessions from the accused? Ichikawa claims it’s because there’s immense pressure on police and prosecutors to obtain a guilty verdict. In a country with a near universal conviction rate no one wants to be the only lawyer who failed to get a guilty verdict so they’ll do anything to get it.

但是為什么日本的司法系統如此熱衷于對被告逼供？市川說，那是因為對警方和檢察官提出有罪指控的壓力實在太大了。在一個定罪率幾乎百分百的國家，沒人愿意當那個拿不到有罪指控的律師，所以他們都竭盡全力去做有罪指控。

Japan is known for being one of the countries with the lowest crime rate in the world. Numerous reasons are given for this such as the illegality of weapons a smaller wealth gap or unspoken rules of conduct that people live by.

日本被認為是世界上犯罪率最低的國家之一。許多人將這歸結于持槍非法、貧富差距較小以及人們潛意識的生活習慣之類的原因。

But one other factor behind such low crime could have a darker reason to it: fear of the Japanese legal system.

但是在這么低的犯罪率背后另一個更深層的因素是：人們對日本法律系統的畏懼。

Al Jazeera news recently put out a documentary on that very subject showing one of the scarier parts of Japan that most people don’t have experience with. The full video is below.

最近半島電視臺資訊發布了一部紀錄片展示了大多數人沒經歷過的日本最恐怖的部分之一。完整視頻如下。

The documentary follows the story of Keiko Aoki a woman who in 1995 was convicted of setting her house on fire and intentionally murdering her daughter to collect life insurance money. Her conviction was based solely on her and her husband’s written confessions that they claimed were made under extreme duress.

這部紀錄片講述了一位叫洼田青木的女人的故事，她于1995年因涉嫌在自己的房子里放火并蓄意謀殺她的女兒以獲取人壽保險的錢而被判為有罪。她的罪名僅僅因為她和她丈夫在他們受到極端脅迫下寫的懺悔書就成立了。

Keiko and her husband spent the next 20 years in jail claiming they were innocent the entire time. It wasn’t until earlier this year that the verdict for their retrial was finally delivered proclaiming them not guilty.

惠子和她丈夫在接下來的20年牢獄生涯中，一直聲稱自己是無辜的。但是直到今年早些時候，對他們案件重審的判決書才下達，終于宣判他們無罪。

But why would someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? Put simply the documentary claims that the Japanese legal system is designed to extract confessions no matter what.

但是為什么會有人對他們沒有犯下的罪行認罪？簡單地說，這部紀錄片聲稱，日本司法系統的設計就是讓你采取各種手段逼供。

In Keiko’s case she was held in an interrogation room with police investigators who constantly yelled and berated her for 12 hours straight. She was never allowed to see a lawyer. Eventually she was told by police that her husband had already confessed to the crime so she should too. Mentally destroyed she gave up and wrote a confession dictated to her by police.

具體到惠子的案件，她被關在審訊室里，警方調查人員連續對她咆哮了12小時，不停地痛罵她。她根本沒法見律師。最后，警察告訴她，她丈夫已經認罪了，所以她也得認罪。心理防線徹底崩潰的她，放棄了抵抗，按照警察的授意寫了認罪書。

Keiko claims that confusion exhaustion and the guilt of not being able to save her daughter came together to make her admit to a crime she was innocent of.

惠子聲稱，困惑、疲憊不堪和沒有把女兒救回來的負疚感交織在一起，令她承認了一樁其實她完全無辜的罪行。

In Japan anyone can be held by police for 23 days without being charged. Lawyers are not allowed in interrogation rooms and police are not required to record any of the interrogation sessions. As Hiroshi Ichikawa a former Japanese prosecutor described investigators can just rotate in and out as they get tired of questioning the suspect until he or she is so mentally exhausted that they will admit to anything to make it stop.

在日本，任何人都可以在沒有被起訴的情況下，被警方羈押23天。在此期間律師不允許進入審訊室，而警察也無需記錄任何審問內容。一位名叫市川浩志的日本前檢察官說，調查人員如果審問犯罪嫌疑人累了，就可以換班，直到他或她心力交瘁最后什么都認了才停止。

But why is the Japanese legal system so intense when it comes to extracting confessions from the accused? Ichikawa claims it’s because there’s immense pressure on police and prosecutors to obtain a guilty verdict. In a country with a near universal conviction rate no one wants to be the only lawyer who failed to get a guilty verdict so they’ll do anything to get it.

但是為什么日本的司法系統如此熱衷于對被告逼供？市川說，那是因為對警方和檢察官提出有罪指控的壓力實在太大了。在一個定罪率幾乎百分百的國家，沒人愿意當那個拿不到有罪指控的律師，所以他們都竭盡全力去做有罪指控。