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Oral Presentation: Vanity Fair Syndrome in Japan: A Conviction without a Criminal

23 June, 2022 @ 10:30 am - 10:50 am

Title: Vanity Fair Syndrome in Japan: A Conviction without a Criminal

Abstract:

It is known that sometimes investigators unintentionally let defendants confess that he/she is a criminal in cases that should have been treated as ‘accidents’ not ‘crimes’. This is one of the types of false confession leading to the miscarriage of justice.

Collecting such kinds of wrongful conviction cases in Japan, we confirmed that police have a psychological tendency to regard a case as a crime rather than an accident even when they don’t have definite evidence. We named this ‘Vanity Fair Syndrome’ after the famous novel, in which one of the main characters, Ms. Rebecca Sharp, made use of every people and chances to run up the stairs to the upper class’ society.

In this presentation, based on this concept we will analyze a recent Japanese case with a false confession of murder of a patient given by a nursing woman, although the death was actually by an accident. This case shows us very clearly the universal mistake the criminal justice system falls into.

The district court ordering a not guilty judgement in the retrial showed how the investigative interviewing of a vulnerable defendant could be dangerous through analysing the interview process on this case. The female defendant was 24 years old at the time when she was arrested and had developmental disability and attachment disorder.

‘Vanity Fair Syndrome’ is seen not only in Japan but also in other countries and the lessons taken from this case should be shared with the investigators across the borders.

Details

Date:
23 June, 2022
Time:
10:30 am - 10:50 am
Event Category:

Venue

WDC403