Issues faced by the System of Duty-attorneys for Criminal Suspects

Analysis of the Questionaires

Abstract

1. Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFB) set up the Center for Criminal Advocacy in April 1990 in order to reform advocacy of criminal suspects from practicing attorneys' perspectives.
2. Under the said System any criminal suspect can have chance to meet with and -retain attorney as the criminal counsel if the suspect so wishes. The System was introduced to all the Bar Associations in Japan by October 1992.
3. The number of attorneys who are registered under the System now totals approximately 5600 (nearly 37% of all the lawyers in Japan) and it all still increasing mainly because of registration by young attorneys. The number of cases in which the duty-attorneys were asked to meet with criminal suspects totals 16, 444 during the period between April 1990 and the end of 1993. Since October 1993 duty-attorneys were asked to meet with criminal suspects on more than 1, 000 occasions every month. The number of cases in which duty-attorney are involved exceeds 10, 000 each year and it consists of approximately 10% of all the criminal suspects cases under detention.
4. Rapid development of the duty-attorney System also brings about financial restraint of the Japan Legal Aid Association which financially supposrts the System. It sometimes compels the attorneys to work free of fees.
We believe that under Article 34 of the Japanese Constitution we must establish the system under which every suspect under detention is ensured with their rights to attornyes free of charge. For this purpose, the system of legal aid should be substantiated and system under which suspects will have free access to attorneys financially supported by the State should be realized. At the same time we also need support of the general public.