title: The sentence and Kyukei in Japanese criminal procedure, especially in domestic homicide cases.
abstract: Kyukei is the prosecutor's suggestion of punishment for the accused in the closing argument in the Japanese criminal court. It is rumored that the court sentence is foreseeable in 8 out of 10 of Kyukei. In this study, the ratio of the average sentence against the Kyukei for Oyako-shinju cases was confirmed to be 0.85 for male offenders and 0.71 for female offenders. Although there is a somewhat lenient tendency observed for female offenders, the ratio may almost be found around 0.8. To make a comparative study, we referred to the Kyukei and sentences of out-of-home murder cases and fatal child abuse cases. In the murder case, the ratio of the average sentence against the Kyukei is 0.83, whereas in the child abuse case it is 0.73. What is called the "myth of 8 out of 10" is more applicable for the male offenders who commit the majority of crimes, than for the females. Most of the crimes committed by women are domestic in nature. Indeed, because most women's domestic cases are due to husbands who are absent, behave violently, or are irresponsible, their circumstances of committing the crimes may be taken into account by the judge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Yokohama City University, Graduate School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan. nambu3@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Saori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nambu
authors.forename: Akiyoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nasu
authors.forename: Taeko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: Yui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawaguchi
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koide
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003416:Criminal Law; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D011330:Prisons; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013997:Time Factors