Yakuza are eligible for jury duty
It appears that serving as an active member of a criminal organization does not exclude you from passing judgement on your fellow citizens in Japan, although this article at Japan Today makes the whole thing sound a bit like ‘dont ask, don’t tell’ to me.
“Unless there are clear grounds for disqualification, it’s possible for a yakuza to become a juror,” Inoue insists.
To serve, candidates will be screened by the judges, prosecutor and defense attorney.
“During the interview, if a candidate has a missing pinky or a tattoo, I suppose he’ll be turned away,” says Yukio Yamanouchi, an attorney who formerly served as consigliore to the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate.
“Judges are busy people, and in the process of conducting lots of interviews, if they ask a person, ‘What’s your occupation?’ and he replies ‘Yakuza,’ the chances of serving on a panel would be lower,” Inoue points out, adding, “But I don’t suppose anyone’s going to be that open to a judge.”
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment