Why Japan’s Conviction Rate is 99% (Actually Explained)

Learn Japanese with Yuta: Support me on Patreon: It’s somewhat famous that Japan’s conviction rate is more than 99%. This is not wrong but a lot of people don’t understand the context and as a consequence, completely misunderstand the number. In this video, I explain what the conviction rate actually means and that you have actually a much higher chance of NOT being convicted if you are arrested in Japan. [Resources] “Conviction rates in Japan exceed 99 percent. Because Japanese judges can be penalized by a personnel office if they rule in ways the office dislikes, perhaps they face biased incentives to convict. Using data on the careers and opinions of 321 Japanese judges, we find that judges who acquit do have worse careers following the acquittal. On closer examination, though, we find that the punished judges are not those who acquit on the ground that the prosecutors charged the wrong person. Rather, they acquit for
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