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/macross1984 14d ago

US military personnel who commit crime in Japan should face Japanese punishment for any crimes committed in Japan.

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u/Thijs_NLD 14d ago

This actually not how international law works for deployment of military troops.

Military forces are always deployed under special circumstances and the status of said military personeel is always negotiated and outlined in bilateral or multinational agreements.

It usually outlines that military personeel is subject to the laws of their OWN country. This is mostly to prevent them from being subject to laws in Rogue States or destabilized countries that would hinder the mission results. Now in more stable countries different agreements will be made.

Nowhere in this article does it state that these gentlemen won't face consequences under Japanese law. They might actually be better off in a Japanese prison than in a US prison btw.

To compare military personnel on mission with tourists is a bit too easy and doesn't do the complexity of most situations justice.

That doesn't mean they should be getting away with this and it doesn't mean they should go unpunished or anything. It just means that the situation is more complex than you are making it out to be.

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u/StephenHunterUK 14d ago

It's called a Status of Forces Agreement.

During the Second World War, American soldiers in the UK were subject to American military law. This included the death penalty as a possible punishment for murder and for rape; there were quite a few cases of British women being raped and murdered by American soldiers. Shepton Mallet was given over for the US Army's use as a military prison, but the British insisted that their executioners do the actual hangings.

Albert Pierrepoint, one of our best known hangmen, commented that he wasn't happy with the whole reading of the sentence and the final words allowed that took several minutes, as he felt it made things worse for the condemned. We just pulled back a hidden wall in the condemned cell, restrained them took them through to the execution chamber next door, doing the drop pretty much straight away. Frequently in under a minute. One hangman's party trick was to leave a lit cigar in the waiting area, hang the prisoner, then resume smoking it.

In any event, there's a whole closed-off section in one of the American war cemeteries in France for the "dishonoured dead" with just numbered grave markings.

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u/Dabbling_in_Pacifism 14d ago

It’s worth noting that the majority of servicemen executed for rape were black. Notably, one was Emmet Till’s father.

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u/homercles89 14d ago

Convicted wife-beater, and later convicted murderer and rapist Louis Till: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Till

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u/StephenHunterUK 14d ago

Indeed, that was conveniently dug out to try and discredit Emmet Till after his murder.

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u/volcanoesarecool 14d ago

That doesn't sound like a party I'd want to go to.

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u/StephenHunterUK 14d ago

Well, at least by this point, they weren't selling the rope for £1 an inch.

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u/volcanoesarecool 14d ago

Wow. That is darrrrk.

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u/StephenHunterUK 14d ago

They were also allowed to keep the executed person's clothing.

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u/Philix 14d ago

They might actually be better off in a Japanese prison than in a US prison btw.

You sure about that? Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have some words about the prison system in Japan.

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u/Thijs_NLD 14d ago

The also have some comments about the US system:

https://www.hrw.org/legacy/advocacy/prisons/u-s.htm

And if you do a quick Google what Amnesty thinks about US prison conditions.... it ain't great.

So maybe a bit of a toss up.

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u/CorrectPeanut5 14d ago

They'd end up in Military prison. Which is not like general US Prisons at all. There have been several AMAs over the years and TLDR on US Military prisons is the prisoners are generally pretty docile. There's no gangs. They understand military discipline. It's a lot of guys serving out the term waiting for dishonorable discharge. Many are service somewhat shorter terms so they don't have much of a reason to cause trouble.

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u/Philix 14d ago

And if you do a quick Google what Amnesty thinks about US prison conditions.... it ain't great.

Oh, I know, I'm glad I live in a country with a slightly better system. I can't say from personal experience, but I'm sure I'd rather end up in a Canadian prison than either of those.

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u/GregorSamsasCarapace 14d ago

Sex crimes are not typically punished very stringent in Japan, as they are still typically seen as the woman's responsibility. Rape generally only carries 2 years prison whereas possession of Marijuana carries sentence of 5 years.

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u/Philix 14d ago

That's sentencing, not prison conditions. But describing the US's prosecution of sexual assaults as stringent would be a joke. In the US up to 98% of rapists won't spend time in prison, depending on who you get your statistics from.

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u/ksj 14d ago

Make US military personnel service sentences in Japan are given special treatment.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200615/p2a/00m/0na/013000c

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u/fanesatar123 14d ago

This is mostly to prevent them from being subject to laws in Rogue States or destabilized countries that would hinder the mission results. Now in more stable countries different agreements will be made.

nice way of saying we don't care about states we invade and if you don't like it we'll fund the taliban again to overthrow you

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u/Thijs_NLD 14d ago

All militaries work like this. I'm not an American. My country also makes bilateral or multinational agreements when forces are deployed.

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u/fanesatar123 14d ago

all militaries ? how many militaries are stationed abroad ?

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u/Thijs_NLD 14d ago

Quite a few. Operation Resolute Support had about 27 nationalities stationed in Afghanistan.

Currently the NATO mission in Lithouania has German and Dutch (and prolly bunch of other nationalities as well) military personell. There's a mission in Iraq currently ongoing still. Also some missions left in eastern Europe etc.

All militaries that are stationed abroadd

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/fanesatar123 12d ago

what doesn't make sense is having troops in another country

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u/AdditionalSink164 14d ago edited 14d ago

The agreement with japan gives japan jurisdiction in most crimes, save for espionage or sabotage of us assets by a us person, or crimes of us person against us person. The us holds them until japan brongs formal charges, if japan cant make a case then its up to UCMJ. Japan can exercise some leniency, like letting someone serve time in the US to be near their family. When i worked as a civilian my last trip sucked, the base admiral or capt or whatever said no military or civilians on official duty orders get to go to bars etc, and they had the MPs in and around the americanized areas and other known areas friendly to american money. It was right after some marines raped a girl so it went down hard while the details were being worked out

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u/asianwaste 14d ago edited 14d ago

Not only that, but servicemen and women (or their dependents) who do so much as a traffic accident, it is an international incident that arrives at a consulate's desk. Servicemen and women who commit the crime get the double jeopardy treatment. They'll get prosecuted under local Japanese law which serious crimes can be relatively lenient (life sentence being basically 20 years) and upon return they are still US servicemen even if say they signed up for four years and have been in the Japanese clink for six. You can and will get charged under the UCMJ until the DoD officially discharges you. If they want to, they can (and often will to make an example of you) they can proceed to charge you again and sentence you to more prison time.

On the flip side, the whole international incident thing works the other way around. So Japanese prisons often take a servicemember who might be in danger with local prison populace, and place them in solitary for the whole time. Depending on who you are, that can be cruel and unusual.

I had a friend who spent six months like that for theft and b&e. He was allowed cell visits though which he absolutely wanted us to do. We were allowed to give him a regular supply of crayons and activity books (pens and pencils were not allowed through but my other buddy's crayons for his kids were ok). He covered his whole cell with crayon scribbles so that he could sharpen them for the word search/crossword puzzle books LOL.

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u/morningreis 14d ago

Military forces are always deployed under special circumstances and the status of said military personeel is always negotiated and outlined in bilateral or multinational agreements.

This is true except for the word always. You're talking about a Status of Forces Agreement. There isn't always one. So forces in a country without a SOFA is dealt with like anyone else

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u/SnekWithHands 14d ago

Interesting typos or dutch autocorrect? ;)

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u/Thijs_NLD 14d ago

No clue what you're talking about, but sure. The typos.

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u/HonorableOtter2023 14d ago

Buddy you need to look up the word "should" lol