Opinion on "Verification on Experimental Audio/Video Recording of Interrogations at Police"

• Japanese

July 17, 2009
Japan Federation of Bar Associations

Full Text (PDF:72kB)

 

About This Opinion

The National Police Agency (NPA) of Japan published “Verification on Experimental Audio/Video Recording of Interrogations at Police” in March 2009.

 

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) has been requesting the realization of electronic recording of interrogations (especially video recording the entire process of each interrogation). From this viewpoint, the JFBA has examined the results of the verification, adopted its opinion at the meeting of the JFBA Board of Governors on July 17, 2009, and submitted this opinion to the Commissioner General of the NPA on July 27.

 

Summary

The main points of this opinion are as follows:

 

1. “Verification on Experimental Audio/Video Recording of Interrogations at Police,” which the NPA published in March 2009, is unjust because it tries to justify the video recording of partial interrogations without giving any consideration to the harmful influences of interrogations taking place behind closed doors.
2. Video recording of the entire process of interrogations must be realized immediately in order to completely eradicate forced confessions and miscarriages of justice, and so lay judges can make proper judgments based on intelligible trials.