Last Saturday during Episode #100 of the award-winning Japan Talk podcast, I reported on how the charges in the Okinawa rape case were dropped after the 14-year-old victim withdrew here complaint against the U.S Marine were dropped.
I concluded the report with basically the same thought that I wrote here on JAPUNDIT, something to the effect that. . .
With all of the furor generated by the incident, it is logical to assume that prosecutors would have pushed hard to have the Marine put behind bars if there had been any physical evidence at all to indicate that a sexual assault actually had taken place.
I wonder if the people of Okinawa plan to make a formal apology to the Marines.
Well, today I got e-mail from a Japanese woman in the United States who passed on some very interesting information about something called shinkoku zai (an offense subject to prosecution only if the victim presses charges).
You said that DA’s office dropped the charges because there was no evidence to prove that the girl was raped, which means there was no rape. And you wondered if the Okinawa people were planning to apologize to the Marine.
I am not sure if you are aware of this, but under Japanese law, prosecutors do not have the control over whether they make the accusation or not in rape cases, but victims do. It’s called shinkoku zai (an offense subject to prosecution only on complaint from the victim). So, even if there was firm evidence to prove that the crime has happened, it doesn’t matter unless the victim wants to make an accusation. In many cases the victims drop charges because they are afraid of being embarrassed or victimized by the other parties. In this case, according to the news, she was hurt by the harsh comments toward her all over on the internet.
I don’t know if she was raped or not or if there was DNA evidence though I doubt that the DA’s office would release that information. But I know that dropping charges doesn’t mean that the case could not be proven, or there was no crime. It simply means that she didn’t want to get hurt anymore.
From what I could find on the net, shinkoku zai is limited to certain types of offenses (a lot of it to do with crimes committed by one family member against another), and rape. . . Rape?
Is there anyone out there knowledgeable about Japanese law or about shinkoku zai in particular who could provide more information about this?
That’s an interesting angle. From a brief scanning of the Internet, the information does seem to be correct. It’s hard to believe that shinkoku zai would be equally applicable to victims who are this young (14). If so, it’s an area of the law that might need to be revised to make it easier on young victims to testify.
If this angle is what is at play in this case, it might explain why the US military is still actively investigating what happened even after the charge was dropped. (And from I have read, the prosecution has half a year from the day the alleged perpetrator has been identified to charge him. While unlikely, this would mean that the Marine could still be charged if the girl in this case changes her mind shortly.)
It could also mean that the girl didn’t want to testify and the prosecutors withdrew the charges.
I can’t imagine many prosecutors would be willing to force the testimony of a young rape victim in a trial setting, concrete evidence or no.
And the defense would surely call her to the stand.
So now you’re in a position of the justice system forcing a minor of an alleged rape to testify against her will - that won’t uphold the image and confidence in the system.
From what I gather from my cop friends, many rapes with ample evidence never make it to court because the victim is traumized and just wants the situation to go away. Of course, that does leave de facto rapists out and on the streets… .
Well, then, I guess the message to potential rapists is. . . Choose your victims carefully.
The reason why rape is included in this is because rape is traditionally seen as a he said/she said crime, and without her input I think it gets pretty hairy.
In the US, the only way this crime would continue to be pursued with a uncooperative accuser, would be through statutory rape laws, and I don’t know enough about this in Japan to comment.
[…] Remember the story of the U.S. Marine in Okinawa who was accused of raping a 14-year old girl that we reported on here, here, and here? […]