Emperor of Japan, Emperor Naruhito. (Image via DW)

Emperor Naruhito's Enthronement Fiesta: About 550,000 criminals to be pardoned

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
News Flash Japan
Oct 19, 2019
1766
To celebrate the enthronement of the successor of the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Emperor Naruhito, which will be held next week, the Japanese government on Friday announced that it will pardon around 550,000 criminals sentenced for trivial charges.

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said that the pardon would be the chance for the petty criminals to “reflect and rehabilitate”. From the 550,000 pardoned criminals, traffic violators made 65.2%, hit-and-run criminals made 17.4%, assaulters made 3.3%, and the thief made 2.6%.

Further details about the pardons are given by Kentaro Tanaka, an official from the Rehabilitation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. These 550,000 criminals would be pardoned only if they committed petty crimes such as traffic violations, theft, and fraud. However, the condition is if these 550,000 criminals have paid their penalty at least three years ago.

Among the 550,000, there will be also criminals whose convictions are difficult to be carried on due to several circumstances such as health and financial difficulties. For those who have been charged to imprisonment or penal servitude, no amnesty will be given, nor will the sentence be reduced.

About 430 criminals due to breaching the election law are also expected to be pardoned. In 1993, such pardons were quipped as “politically motivated”.

Moreover, due to these penalties and charges, these criminals should wait five years for exams or for their national licenses. Fortunately, with the pardon, they are freed from the restrictions or at least, they don’t have to wait until five years for those. However, their criminal records remain.

About 700,000 individuals are feeling entitled to be pardoned. These special pardons are given for individuals who were fined within the last three years, or whose job prospects were tainted by the charges.

However, if they feel so, they need to submit their request to the public prosecutor’s office, and their requests will be scrutinized by the rehabilitation panel under the Justice Ministry. From that number, about 1,000 are expected to be granted amnesty.

The pardons are not the first in Japanese history. In 1989, about 10 million pardons were given to mourn for the passing away of Emperor Hirohito, or known as Emperor Showa. And the most recent was in 1990 when Emperor Akihito was enthroned as the Emperor of Japan. About 2.5 million criminals were pardoned. The number of pardons is reduced to avoid criticism.

Some politicians criticize these pardons are inappropriate if they are given amid a celebratory mood to enhance political “politically-motivated” benefits. A member of the Upper House and an opposition, Hiroyuki Nagahama, stated that the pardons are not transparent, especially without oversight by the judiciary.

Source: https://bit.ly/2J5E2Jd

Politics , Crime , Asia , Japan , Enthronement , Emperor-Naruhito , Amnesty