Stacey Steele

Elderly Offenders in Japan and the saiban’in seido (Lay Judge System): Reflections Through a Visit to the Tokyo District Court

Elderly Japanese are increasingly turning to crime. Yet the intersection of old age and criminal justice is mostly an untold story in the extensive English-language literature on Japanese aging, and has only recently begun to be seriously researched in Japan. Elderly Japanese are also increasingly being charged with serious offences such as murder, bringing them within the new saiban’in (lay judge) system. This article highlights the complex social problems arising from the unprecedented aging of Japanese society by analysing statistical evidence, nascent empirical research published in Japanese on elderly crime, and a saiban’in case involving an elderly defendant. The elderly defendant in the case pleaded guilty to murdering his alcoholic, co-habiting, adult son. The circumstances of the case highlight the possible implications that lay participation may have on serious social issues such as elderly crime, in particular through sentencing decisions, and the possibility that it may contribute to changing perceptions of Japanese criminal justice, away from traditional readings based on benevolence and rehabilitation to genbatsuka (punitiveness).

The study of Asian legal systems in Australia and professor Malcolm D. H. Smith: They called him 'Mal'

Foreword - Kenneth Hayne Note on Citation and Naming Conventions Acknowledgements and Dedication List of Contributors List of Photographs and Tables Part I: Introduction 1. Introduction - Legal Education in Asia: Globalization, Change and Contexts - Stacey Steele and Kathryn Taylor 2. The Study of Asian Legal Systems in Australia and Professor Malcolm D.H. Smith: They Called Him Mal - Stacey Steele Part II: Legal Education: Globalization And Contexts 3. Gatekeepers: A Comparative Critique of Admission to the Legal Profession and Japans New Law Schools - Kent Anderson and Trevor Ryan 4. Internationalization of Legal Education: Putting the Why Before The How - Jeff Waincymer 5. Teaching and Researching Japanese Law: A German Perspective - Harald Baum Part III: Legal Education In Developed Economies 6. Legal Education in Hong Kong: Producing The Producers - Carol Jones 7. Thinking of the Development of Legal Education in Taiwan: An Analysis of the History Of Law and Society - Tay-Sheng Wang, Translated and Abridged by Sean Cooney 8. Legal Education in Singapore and the Introduction of a New Law School at the Singapore Management University: A New Chapter Begins - Kee Yang Low 9. Legal Education In Korea: New Law School Reforms - Simon Lee Part IV: Country Case Study - Japan 10. Creation of Japanese Law Schools and their Current Development - Noboru Kashiwagi 11. Butaman for Breakfast and Other Morsels of Legal Reasoning - Dan Rosen Part V: Legal Education In Transitional Economies 12. Asias Legal Education as Development - Veronica Taylor 13. Effectiveness of Donor-Funded Legal Education: A Vietnamese Retrospective - Pip Nicholson and Samantha Hinderling 14. Legal Education in the Peoples Republic Of China: The Ongoing Story of Politics and Law - Sarah Biddulph 15. Legal Education in Cambodia: Shunning the Course Of History - Teilee Kuong 16. Islamic Legal Education in Indonesia: Tradition In Transition - Jemma Parsons and Jamhari Makruf