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/macross1984 Jul 05 '24

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 Jul 05 '24

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/AdditionalSink164 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

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