According to Japanese criminal justice law, if you are arrested, you can be detained and held under police control for up to 23 days before formal charges are laid.

The ‘confessions’ that are generated are not written by the detainee. They are written by the police during interrogation sessions that, by law, are not videotaped nor recorded.

Japanese criminal law does not require that the prosecution disclose all evidence to the defense, which is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Because of this system, Kazuo Ishikawa, a man of Buraku origin, was found guilty of murder and spent 32 years in prison at hard labor, all for a crime he did not commit. Ishikawa has spent the past 43 years professing his innocence and fighting this system.