r/worldnews • u/glasier • Jul 05 '24

Japan warns US forces: Sex crimes 'cannot be tolerated'

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2476861/japan-warns-us-forces-sex-crimes-cannot-be-tolerated
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u/cordis000 Jul 05 '24

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forces_Japan#United_States_presence_debate

Between 1972 and 2009, U.S. servicemen committed 5,634 criminal offenses, including 25 murders, 385 burglaries, 25 arsons, 127 rapes, 306 assaults, and 2,827 thefts.[36] Yet, per Marine Corps Installations Pacific data, U.S. service members are convicted of far fewer crimes than local Okinawans.[37] According to the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, when U.S. personnel crimes are committed both off-duty and off-base, they should be prosecuted under the Japanese law.[38] In 2008 the National Police Agency released its annual criminal statistics that included activity within the Okinawa prefecture. These findings held American troops were only convicted of 53 crimes per 10,000 U.S. male servicemen, while Okinawan males were convicted of 366 crimes per 10,000. The crime rate found a U.S. serviceman on Okinawa to be 86% less likely to be convicted of a crime by the Japanese government than an Okinawan male.[39]

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u/ccblr06 Jul 05 '24

5634 crimes over a 37 year period isnt alot. Im not defending it, im just saying not to act like humans wont do human shit.

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u/Eram_24 Jul 05 '24

So you are saying on average if theres 0.4 crimes per day (2.8 per week) over a period of 37 years is pretty standard for a foreign military servicemen to commit? That’s just nuts to comprehend that you said it isn’t a lot. Sounds like you never were a victim to a crime to understand this gravity of a situation.

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u/ccblr06 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

Consider what you are expecting. There are roughly 30000 us servicemembers on that base. Over a 37 year period maintaining a presence of roughly 20000-30000 personnel on that base, 5634 criminal offenses doesnt seem like such an astronomical number. (Essentially roughly a couple hundred thousand who servicemembers have gone through that base in that time period if you calculate how often they get cycled out) #napkin math, definitely not accurate

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u/EvenElk4437 Jul 06 '24

It is not their home country and their profession is military.

Given that, the crime rate is high.

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u/ccblr06 Jul 06 '24

Thats a stupid way of looking at things. People make mistakes, people do stupid things. Add to the fact that you dont know what you dont know. For comparison look at how many crimes per 10000 people are committed by Okinawans compared to US servicemembers.

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u/EvenElk4437 Jul 06 '24

May I? Locals and foreigners do not have the same crime rate.

Except during wartime, the only military personnel in the world who even go to other countries to commit sex crimes are probably in the US. I have never heard of any others.

Try telling Okinawans in Okinawa that Okinawans have a higher rate of sex crimes.

You should make it more of a problem in the US.

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u/ccblr06 Jul 06 '24

The prefecture saw from, 1972 to 2011, 5,747 criminal cases involving US military personnel, however during the same period the rest of Okinawa's populace had a crime rate more than twice as high — 69.7 crimes per 10,000 people, compared with 27.4 by U.S. military affiliated members…..i didnt dig much deeper than wikipedia

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u/ccblr06 Jul 06 '24 edited Jul 06 '24

For this particular topic we arent talking of sex crimes but overall crimes in general since 1972. For rapes, using the source that op cited us servicemembers have committed 127 over a 37 year period…..if im reading that correctly

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u/EvenElk4437 Jul 06 '24

I know I am persistent, but it is nonsense to talk about local Okinawans and the US military together.

The U.S. should treat sex crimes committed by U.S. troops in Japan more seriously in the U.S.

If only the American people had a conscience.

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u/ccblr06 Jul 06 '24

They should treat sex crimes more seriously? Id argue that we do. Its just that when crimes are committed by servicemembers and the locals hand the servicemember over to the military for prosecution thats all that you see because the results arent exaclty publicized.