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Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

japantimes.co.jp

111–120 of 127 posts

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#111
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly didn't blame the west. I personally think it has done more good than harm in the long term. My only point was that not all cultures take to democracy in the same way.

I was responding to @lostlogin’s response to you.

Whoops, thanks.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Ghosn is credited with a stunning corporate turnaround and creating billions of dollars of value for a Japanese company and the Japanese people This should have absolutely no bearing on how the justice system handles him.

Seriously! I know it happens but I feel like it's rare to see someone seem to explicitly argue that someone's business success should be a mitigating factor when considering their crimes.

While not to this degree “mitigating circumstances” is a concept in law, so while I disagree with OP, it is a thing of sorts in some traditions of law.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#113
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would call Iran democratic? You would claim it protects the liberty of its citizens? Allows for religious freedom? Iran's elections are widely considered shams: https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/05/12/irans-farce...

Timeline of Iran & Democracy: 1. Overthrew the shah in the ~1940s, created a democracy 2. Because a large majority of the economy was going to the british in the form of of the anglo persian oil company, iran nationialized it's oil industry 3. This pissed off the british, who poked it's friend america to overthrow the government in Iran. The first president said no, but the next one said yes, which eventually led to…

You conveniently left out Soviet interference. The reason the CIA got involved was because the country was turning communist, which is the worst thing that can happen to a nation.

And yes, I would imagine that most don't like it; it's not a great place to live. This is why I said it was not really a good example of successful democracy.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#114
post #48
post #36

Ghosn's handling by the Japanese is utterly despicable. No habeas corpus ... no due process. Ghosn is credited with a stunning corporate turnaround and creating billions of dollars of value for a Japanese company and the Japanese people. I am certain foreign corporations who do business in Japan are thinking long and hard about the implications and potential risks of operating there. To be clear - I am not saying Gho…

Japan isn’t acting exceptionally with Ghosn. That’s their regular operating procedure. Ghosn allegedly arranged this overt/covert payment system because allegedly he was unhappy that compared to euro and American auto execs, he was being under compensated. This scheme if true is unlawful. Euro and American auto execs get paid above board and since there is no need for dual streams (because if you can command 200 mill…

Well let's roll part of that back because there is growing consensus that "if you can command 200 million and you can get it" you should be shamed.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#115
post #114
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan isn’t acting exceptionally with Ghosn. That’s their regular operating procedure. Ghosn allegedly arranged this overt/covert payment system because allegedly he was unhappy that compared to euro and American auto execs, he was being under compensated. This scheme if true is unlawful. Euro and American auto execs get paid above board and since there is no need for dual streams (because if you can command 200 mill…

Well let's roll part of that back because there is growing consensus that "if you can command 200 million and you can get it" you should be shamed.

There’s a difference between commanding tens of millions per on the open market and doing illegal things because you want to get around some limits. As I understand it Nissan paid him a handsome amount, he agreed to it, but apparently not enough so he set up subsidiaries in Europe and used those to buy personal properties. In the end he allegedly was reporting only half of the income he earned-only the above board income.

It’s an altogether different discussion whether someone should be remunerated so generously.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#116
post #60
post #36

Ghosn's handling by the Japanese is utterly despicable. No habeas corpus ... no due process. Ghosn is credited with a stunning corporate turnaround and creating billions of dollars of value for a Japanese company and the Japanese people. I am certain foreign corporations who do business in Japan are thinking long and hard about the implications and potential risks of operating there. To be clear - I am not saying Gho…

At some point, foreign nations are different and we just have to deal with it. We got habeas corpus and other processes from the Magna Carta back in the eleventh century B.C., and the resultant English Common Law shaped the justice systems of America and other nations. It is not fair of us to expect all justice systems to align with ours. For an extreme example of this issue, look at the Middle East. They have simply…

" We got habeas corpus and other processes from the Magna Carta back in the eleventh century B.C."

Not BC.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#117
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a lawyer present while being questioned as an "inherent human right"? Why is that? Why not your parents, spouse, children and best friend as well? I don't recall seeing this anywhere in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By what reasoning have you decided that having a lawyer present is an "inherent human right"?

It's a part of due process. One underlying principle or right would be along the lines of Presumption of innocence. There are all sorts of non-obvious shenanigans which the authorities can pull, otherwise, which given the authorities the unchecked power to pressure or harass individuals. Obviously, that is against individual human rights.

They can and should video record the entire questioning process. If the suspect is abused in any way, the video can be used to punish the culprits. If the police use any illegal tactics to coerce a confession, it can simply be ruled inadmissible. I have yet to hear an explanation on why the lawyer needs to physically be in the room during the questioning.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#118
post #53

> During detention, both were subject to extensive questioning by prosecutors without an attorney present. Videotapes of Ghosn’s questioning — a new feature added in the Criminal Procedure Reform law in 2016 in direct response to documented abuses — were made available to his attorneys who were present at the detention center, but lawyers were not permitted in the room where questioning took place. > The system must…

> In fact, given how much more effective their criminal Justice system is compared to America's, I would err on the side of keeping up their good work. When a society justifies human rights abuses based on results, bad things tend to happen.

Being questioned by the police without a lawyer being present, is a "human rights abuse"? I have yet to hear an explanation on why being questioned 1:1 by the police is so bad.

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#119
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Timeline of Iran & Democracy: 1. Overthrew the shah in the ~1940s, created a democracy 2. Because a large majority of the economy was going to the british in the form of of the anglo persian oil company, iran nationialized it's oil industry 3. This pissed off the british, who poked it's friend america to overthrow the government in Iran. The first president said no, but the next one said yes, which eventually led to…

You conveniently left out Soviet interference. The reason the CIA got involved was because the country was turning communist, which is the worst thing that can happen to a nation. And yes, I would imagine that most don't like it; it's not a great place to live. This is why I said it was not really a good example of successful democracy.

> The reason the CIA got involved was because the country was turning communist, which is the worst thing that can happen to a nation.

Was it? I'm not super well informed on the topic, but my impression was that Mossadegh's policies were largely the kind of mild social democracy that Europe has been engaging in pretty comfortably for a few decades. The two big exceptions would be nationalizing natural resources under foreign influence and raising land taxes, and again, you could probably find plenty of moderate to conservative economists today that would find both of those reasonable.

Is there anything in particular you're thinking of when you say Iran was "turning Communist" in a way that warrants comparisons to "the worst thing that can happen to a nation"?

Re: Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's System of 'Hostage Justice'

#120
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously! I know it happens but I feel like it's rare to see someone seem to explicitly argue that someone's business success should be a mitigating factor when considering their crimes.

While not to this degree “mitigating circumstances” is a concept in law, so while I disagree with OP, it is a thing of sorts in some traditions of law.

That's not what mitigating circumstances are for AFAIK.

Here are the examples given in a law dictionary :

"a young man shoots his father after years of being beaten, belittled, sworn at and treated without love. "Heat of passion" or "diminished capacity" are forms of such mitigating circumstances"

mitigating circumstances are conditions that explain and partially excuse a behavior. If anything, being a very wealthy exec that does not need money but still stealing would be an aggravating circumstance.

However, if you look at prison terms, whether this person is a danger to society or not is a big factor. We could also talk a lot about imprisonment and whether it should be used as a punition or only as a way to protect society against some very limited cases of dangerous individuals.

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