Justice : Japan style / produced by Ian Altschwager for Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Altschwager, Ian.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Alexander Street Press.

Series:

Filmakers library online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Menda, Sakae, 1925-2020--Trials, litigation, etc.

Menda, Sakae.

Criminal justice, Administration of--Japan.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Law enforcement--Japan.

Law enforcement.

Prisoners--Abuse of--Japan.

Prisoners.

Genre:

Documentary films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (25 minutes).

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Filmakers Library, 2006.

Language Note:

English.

System Details:

digital

data file

Summary:

Almost every person charged with committing a serious crime in Japan is convicted and goes to jail. Jury trials simply do not exist and convictions are based on confessions. Some believe that Japanese criminal court cases are simply ceremonies to impose punishment rather than determine guilt. The filmmaker obtained rare access to Japan's jails, where a cruel, secret system allows the abuse, torture and death of inmates. Prisons have spartan conditions and extremely strict rules; prisoners can be kept in solitary confinement for decades, others live eight to a room. In the last ten years there have been close to 250 suspicious deaths in custody. The film recounts the tragic ordeal of Sakae Menda who spent thirty-four years on death row after he confessed to a crime he did not commit, a confession obtained following six days of sleep deprivation and beatings. His testimony is powerful evidence of the flaws in Japan's justice system where reform is unlikely and Western notions of human rights are relatively new.

Notes:

Originally released as DVD.

Title from resource description page (viewed May 24, 2011).

OCLC:

747797873

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.