From what I know, the criminal justice system in Japan is truly scary. They have a much lower crime and arrest rate, but a much higher conviction rate than the US (and the US has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world). If you are arrested in Japan, you are pretty much assumed guilty.
Worse yet, if you're sentenced to death, they do not tell you --- or your family -- when it's going to happen. They just come for you one morning. Some people spend years in that state of suspense. Just thinking about that gives me nightmares.
hey, at least they have a justice system
Most countries in the world, quite frankly, dont even have one (or a functioning one).
Ok, so I got out of jury duty!
and legitimately too. Basically I showed up on 3 hours of sleep and they had just begun the 'welcome to your civic duty' speech for the 200 or 300 potential jurors who showed up this morning. Long story short, they said you need to have your calendar cleared for the next week and a half just in case a trial takes that long, and if you didnt, you could have your duty postponed. Well I have a cousin coming into town on the 9th and have to pick him up at the airport and host him for a week, so I definitely did not have 10 days free. Told the judge this and he said sure you can come back in 6 months. Yay!
For the hour and a half that I was there though, it was actually a pretty interesting experience. First off you get a vivid picture of just how diverse this country is when they stick you in that juror room with hundreds of other poor slobs who had to wake up early and show up like you. Of course the potential jurors are from every imaginable background, rich, poor, every ethnicity, every personality. Some real wackos in that room, too (as lexicon mentioned
) But you get a real sense of the diversity of your city-neighbors
Then they gave the 'civic duty and here's where this system comes from, common law and its inheritence and its greatness' speal, and boy you feel really patriotic about the whole thing by the time they're done.
I certainly agree we're lucky to have this system of justice and that its a privelege to do one's civic duty every few years. But this really isnt good timing for me. So I rescheduled for mid-June. Should be fun when I eventually do it.
