Supreme Court says no promise to keep sex crime victims' names from jury candidates

Friday 05th June, 06:07 AM JST

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7 Comments

BBLeo at 01:12 PM JST - 5th June

...to call up about 50 to 100 lay jury candidates for each case and they will basically be narrowed down to six. - and will all selected lay jury be screened by police or courts? I can't see how this will work. Not very DEMOCRATIC idea at all. Judges should keep out of it and let people decide the guilt of accused. And further this is also wrong: ...'no promise to keep sex crime victims' names from jury candidates.' When you go to the cinema or watch TV they don't show you only part of the story but full version.
Psych at 03:55 PM JST - 5th June

why is it necessary to release the real names!? They should see how sensitive these things are. Interestingly, they release the victims' names but not the predators...

more tweaking is needed for the Supreme Court.
IfeelImust at 05:32 PM JST - 5th June

In the best interest of keeping victims from reporting a crime of this nature and no doubt keeps statistics down and Japan safe!
stirfry at 06:20 PM JST - 5th June

yeah why should the supreme court care about something as trivial as victim's rights ?
jonobugs at 10:59 PM JST - 5th June

There needs to be a large number of people to choose from at the beginning because there are so many reasons why a person would not eligible to be a juror. I just think it's common sense that you need to have a large number of candidates to begin with.

As for releasing the names, it was explained! To ensure a fair trial, the jurors cannot be related to or know either the victim or the accused. They also went on to say that the victims will get a chance to see a list of possible candidates so that their own name will be released to as few people as possible.

No where does it say that the defendant will not be named. Of course the defendant will be named! They won't however be as shielded as the victim.

It's amazing that people seem to want a fair and just trial, but then cry foul when it is given to them. Perhaps one of the 'geniuses' on this site can explain how a fair trial should be given?

What about a fair trial for the accused? I guess in a perfect world the victim of a crime as well as the accused could remain anonymous until the end of the trial, but I can't really see how that can be done and remain fair to everyone.
Monoflow at 11:33 PM JST - 5th June

Name and adress the criminals... Hide the ones from victims...
Crokk at 10:26 PM JST - 7th June

I still prefer european law system, "can't" understand why Japan moved ...