Marine Arrested For Rape of Japanese Schoolgirl

Bern, what does that even mean? How many American police officers were at Abu Ghraib? And what on Earth does that have to do with a rape investigation? By the logic you’ve laid out above, we can accuse the SDF of horrible offense in Iraq because of what Japanese police have done at home, which, of course, would be silly.

If you’d really trust any police department in Japan to thoroughly investigate the charges and bring the accused to trial based on evidence with proper legal representation, you clearly haven’t paid much attention to any of the routine reports, both domestic and international, on the bad habits of Japanese police.

My comment above wasn’t calling for the US military to take over the investigation, but to assist if asked. The main reason for this is that they do things that are vital, but routinely ignored by Japan’s confession-reliant police forces. Number one in this case would be making sure a rape kit was done ASAP after the charges were made and that an immediate investigation of the crime scene was done.
Above all, it was procedural and legal question: What are the terms in SOFA relating to such a criminal investigation?

Having a solid case, based on physical evidence, would be good for all sides – it would increase the likelihood of a fair trial and make sure that a conviction was airtight (or as close to it as possible.) The thing is, with the way most criminal cases in Japan run, there are three possibilities here, in descending order of likelihood:
1. He’ll confess, either because he’s guilty or because the cops make him believe it’s the best choice. (Whether or not he did it is not a priority for the police.)
2. He won’t confess, but will be held for so long that he’ll be convicted on a lesser charge than rape, regardless of what evidence is presented.
3. The publicity surrounding the case and the fact that he’s US military personnel will make it hard for the police to hold him with charge, he won’t confess and the police won’t have enough evidence to convict at trial, so he’ll receive a light punishment regardless of guilt and either get off really easy (if he’s guilty) or be unfairly convicted (if he’s not.)

It would be nice if every criminal investigation were carried out professionally, thoroughly, and with the presumption of innocence and it would be nice if all of the changes necessary to that happening came from within Japan, but neither of those things is likely.

Again, it’s not an issue of who runs the show – that’s obviously the local police. The question was what role SOFA sets out for the US military. That’s the law and the lack of performing a rape kit as standard practice is a fact, there’s really nothing to opine about.