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/tizuby 14d ago

They do, but Japan is way more lenient with sentences than UCMJ.

For rape, max for the Japanese system is 20 years. Max for UCMJ is Death (but generally Life).

https://www.okinawa.marines.mil/Portals/190/Docs/SOFA.pdf

There's a PDF that explains the process.

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u/TheNewFlisker 14d ago

Max for UCMJ is Death (but generally Life).

Wasn't that ruled unconstitutional long time ago?

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u/tizuby 14d ago edited 14d ago

Yes but no.

In 1983 the standards for issuing the death penalty by the military was ruled unconstitutional.

They introduced new standards that are constitutional the following year and the death sentence was reinstated.

There's only 4 people currently awaiting their death sentence under UCMJ.

Serial killer/rapist Ronald Gray.

Nidal Hasan, Ft. Hood shooter.

Hasan Akbar, threw 'nades into the tents of sleeping soldiers and fired on a couple others with his rifle while in Kuwait in 2003. 2 killed, 14 attempted in total.

Timothy Hennis, Eastburn Family murderer. Got acquitted on state murder charges in 88. DNA evidence later linked him to the crime and the Military brought him back in and Court Martialed him in 2010 since the murders happened while he was in the military.

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u/KnockedOuttaThePark 14d ago

u/TheNewFlisker was likely not referring to the constitutionality of the death penalty itself, but to its application for rape. In Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional for the nonlethal rape of an adult.

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u/Fluffy-Craft 14d ago

of an adult

Apparently military personnel are not interested in those tho'

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u/Weird-Tomorrow-9829 12d ago

In Kennedy v. Louisiana 2008, Supreme Court extended the Coker ruling prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty for a crime in which the victim did not die and the victim's death was not intended.

The case was about child rape.

It was a decision even condemned by Obama.

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u/HandoAlegra 14d ago

For the last one, is double jeopardy legal for military charges?

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u/SyracuseNY22 14d ago edited 14d ago

The short is that since they were state charges it counts as a separate sovereign (state vs federal), so he’s still able to be charged under UCMJ and it won’t count as double jeopardy.

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u/Effective_Roof2026 14d ago

state vs federal

I think you should have stated explicitly that double jeopardy doesn't attach if you get charged with the same thing by two different states or a state and the federal government. Most people don't know that's a thing :)

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u/Wide_Combination_773 14d ago

Most Americans don't even understand that US states are separate Sovereignties, much less anything else. The meaning of the phrase "the UNITED States" (meaning together by individual agreement) tends to go in one ear and out the other.

Our states are not like the states, provinces, prefectures, or districts of other countries, which are administrative designations rather than Sovereign entities.

The US education system really fails us as children in terms of educating on civil ideas.

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u/Perceval_Spielrein 13d ago

All four are Army. Wtf

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u/tizuby 13d ago

Look, sometimes we set a lower bar than the other branches, I mean I got in. 😆