Categories of Judicial Decisions and Punishments

~Classification of Judicial Decision~

You might imagine a court room which you watch on TV when it comes to judicial decision. For sure, while not necessarily incorrect in an aspect, judicial decision in legal term means the decisions made in the form regulated by law as the exercise of the power of a judge or a court.

 Classification by Forms

Judicial decisions can be classified into three from an aspect of the forms: judgement; ruling; and order. This classification might be made according to the degree of importance of judicial decisions.

	Subject of judicial decision	Give reasons	Oral argument	Way of application for filing an objection	Other
Judgement	Court	Necessary	Necessary	Appeal to the court of second instance, final appeal, retrial	Announce by pronouncing in open court.
Ruling	Court	Unnecessary for ruling or order that does not permit appeal	Unnecessary. Where necessary, examine the facts.	Appeal against a ruling (or immediate appeal against a ruling)	An assistant judge can decide by him/herself.
Order	judge	Unnecessary for ruling or order that does not permit appeal	Unnecessary. Where necessary, examine the facts.	Appeal against a ruling by a judge or a disposition by a prosecutor	An assistant judge can decide by him/herself.

Judgement is a judicial decision made by a court through the proceedings of oral argument, except a special case. As judgement is final decision whose content has judicially important matters, it must add reasons.

Ruling is also a judicial decision made by a court, though it is not necessary to be made through oral argument. In contrast to judgement, it does not necessarily have to add reasons.

Order is a judicial decision made by a judge. Issue of arrest warrant at the investigative stage and disposition concerning detention before the first trial date are typical examples.

 Classification by Functions

As classified by functions of judicial decision, it can be categorized into final judicial decision and non-final judicial decision. The final judicial decision indicates the judicial decision which has an effect to finalize a case at the present instance, and is distinguished from other judicial decisions which made before or after the final judicial decision.

The final judicial decision includes sentence, acquittal, judgement on lack of jurisdiction, judgement or ruling on dismissal of appeal to the court of second instance, ruling on dismissal of appeal to the court of second instance or final appeal. The important one among the final judicial decisions is to be made by judgement.

 Classification by Contents

Judicial decisions can be categorized by their contents into a decision on the merits and procedural decision. A decision on the merits means the decision which is made on the substance of a case under public prosecution, and indicates a judicial decision that determines existence or non- existence of reasons about public prosecution by a public prosecutor. Put simply, it is a sentence or acquittal.

On the other hand, a procedural decision indicates the one that determines presence or absence of the procedural requirements, and means the judicial decision which decides a court or judge discontinues litigation proceedings. For example, judgement on lack of jurisdiction, judgement or decision on dismissal of prosecution, and judgement on dismissal by reason of judicial bar.

Categories of Judgement

 Acquittal

Acquittal is a judgement which is delivered when the case under public prosecution does not constitute a crime or has not been proven to be a crime. That the case under public prosecution does not constitute a crime means a case where the case does not constitute a crime for the purpose of law even though the charged facts were proven or there are justifiable causes. That the case under public prosecution has not been proven to be a crime means a case where existence of the charged facts or non-existence of justifiable causes has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

As a system that compensates loss of the accused who received acquittal, there are the criminal compensation system and costs compensation system. The criminal compensation system is a system that one who received acquittal can request monetary compensation depending on the period that he/she had been detained. The costs compensation system is a system that the state compensates a part of the costs which the accused who received acquittal spent on trial (travel cost to appear to the court, daily wage, accommodation fees, and attorney’s fee)

 Judgement of Conviction

This is a judgement that is made when the case under pubic prosecution has been proven to be a crime, the court determines that the charged facts have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt and finds the facts constitute a crime. Judgement of conviction includes sentence and remission of punishment.Sentence has suspended sentence and prison sentence without suspension of execution of the sentence. When pronouncing a sentence, the court shall signify the facts constituting the crime, the list of evidence, and the application of laws and regulations. Moreover, the judgement of remission is pronounced when law provides remission of penalty even if the conduct of the accused constitutes a crime. For example, the special provision of theft among relatives (Article 244 of the Penal Code).

Categories of Punishments

Article 9 of the Penal Code sets up 7 punishments: the death penalty, imprisonment with work, imprisonment without work, fine, misdemeanor imprisonment without work, petty fine, and confiscation. The principal punishments are categorized as 6 punishments other than confiscation, and confiscation is to be add to the principle punishments as a supplementary punishment.

	Nature of punishments	Categories of punishments	Contents
Principle punishments	Death sentence	Death penalty	The maximum sentence whose content is to deprive one’s life. In Japan, this is to be executed by hanging at a penal institution.
	Imprisonment	Imprisonment with work	Detained either for life or with a definite term, and the definite term of not less than one month but not more than 20 years. This punishment shall consist of confinement in a penal institution with assigned work.
		Imprisonment without work	Detained either for life or for a definite term, and a definite term of not less than one month but not more than 20 years. Can choose work or not during this term.
		Misdemeanor imprisonment without work	Confinement in a penal institution for not less than 1 day but less than 30 days.
	Financial penalty	Fine	A fine shall be not less than 10,000 yen; provided, however, that in cases where it shall be reduced, the amount may be reduced to less than 10,000 yen.
		Petty fine	A petty fine shall be not less than 1,000yen but less than 10,000 yen.
Supplementary punishment		Confiscation	Disposition that attributes objects to the public purse. When the whole or part of the object cannot be confiscated, a sum of money equivalent thereto may be collected.

When a person sentenced to imprisonment with or without work evinces signs of substantial reformation, the person may be paroled by a disposition of a government agency after that person has served one-third of the definite term sentenced or 10 years in the case of a life imprisonment.
A person who defaults in payment of a fine in full shall be detained in a workhouse for a term of not less than one day but not more than two years. A person who defaults in payment of a petty fine in full shall be detained in a workhouse for a term of not less than one day but not more than 30
days.

Those who worry about the criminal trials, please come to AICHI Criminal Cases Law Firm to consult with our lawyers. Lawyers who specialize in criminal and juvenile cases personally provide with “free legal consultation”. In cases where the suspect got arrested, we also provide for “the first interview service” which our lawyers personally go to where the suspect is.