I’ve heard people say that lawyers only choose to prosecute cases that they know they might win, but isn’t that true for lawyers in basically any country, anywhere?
EDIT: I meant conviction rate in the title.
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Ok, I actually have insight into this. I took a class when I was at UCLA with a visiting legal scholar/professor from Japan – he was American but had lived in Japan for decades and taught at one of the top Japanese law schools and was heavily involved in reforming parts of the Japanese legal system such as their equivalent BAR exams. This topic wasnt the exclusive focus of the class but we did discuss this.
According to him, the biggest factor was a difference in cultural and societal understanding of the legal system and how lawyers work etc. In Japan, if you’re accused of a crime, the societally expected next step is for you to admit guilt, apologize and show remorse and/or pay reparations to injured parties, and if you do these things, you typically receive significantly very, very significantly reduced sentences or penalties. Lawyers also have very different roles culturally – they often focus much more as mediators or facilitators of this process, and not the advocates or defenders we expect in the American system.
Long story short, the conviction rate in Japan being so high is not for the same reasons as a place like Russia (blatant corruption/authoritarianism). Although there may be some elements of authoritarianism/excess deference to authority, it has a lot more to do with cultural/collectivist attitudes.
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