Japanese judge ordered to pay damages over social media posts

Wow! This is unbelievable

Wow! This is unbelievable

I second that!

I am disappointed with the court and the family!

I do not know anything about the family, but bereavement can also be a replacement for embarrassment or guilt. Embarrassed or guilty because of their role in the death of this family member.

Usually in horrific situations like this, the people connected do not want what happened to their loved one to happen to anyone else, so they want others to learn from this situation as a warning to others as they seek justice for the criminal. The judge seemed like an advocate for them!

Maybe the family fears been scrutinized for their responsibility or lack of in this unfortunate situation.

Also, if they really wanted this to be kept a secret then why sue someone that would bring national attention. This calls into question the character of the family members.

Finally, the family should be taking the murderer to court for compensation not the judge!

Judges tweeting about criminal trials on personal Twitter accounts is always going to be a bad idea.

 the parliamentary committee said in its opening statements that Okaguchi continued to make posts despite repeated warnings by the Tokyo High Court and even after expressing regret over the posts.

Horrible attitude from someone that apparently is drunk with power and think he will always be right so there is no need to take anybody else into consideration.

Maybe the family fears been scrutinized for their responsibility or lack of in this unfortunate situation.

Blaming the victim and her family instead of someone that has already been found guilty of acting wrongly? not only unjustified but also irrational.

Your baseless assumptions about motives and reasons are unnecessary when they are clearly included in the claim.

sad but maybe he was trying to get a heavier sentence for this scumbag?

if he was warned though and kept going, he deserves more as obviously the family didn’t need to be reminded of this animals treatment of their daughter!

Judges need to be banned from posting on all social networks.

Wow! This is unbelievable

I second that!

I am disappointed with the court and the family!

I do not know anything about the family...

Could you not just stop there?

Much as I love Japan, I cannot ignore the fact that there is something VERY wrong with the "justice" system here. That includes the police and the judges.

The judge will probably resign or has already resigned . But since he’s not disbarred, he’ll wait for a couple of years until the dust settles, then he’ll apply for membership to the bar association and become a practicing lawyer.

Could you not just stop there?

Daninthepan.............Why?

The judge did what any media company about any topic/crime that is publicly available knowledge.

When was the last time a newspaper advocating for the victim of a heinous crime get sued by survivors of the victim simply because it reminds them of the crime?

Let's look at another example:

Last year, a mother and daughter in Chiba planned to go to the park. The mother aloud the child to go on ahead because she had to do something real quick in the house. The child was found weeks later in the river. A lot of people suspect foul play because of the circumstantial evidence.

If some one did murder that child, or it was all an accident, then should the media or someone be sued because they are advocating for punishment for the murderer or wanting to raise awareness about the dangers of playing near rivers?

That organization or person did not say the mother is responsible or to blame, but the mother wants to sue because it reminds the mother that she allowed her 7 year old daughter to go to park far from her home alone then that child went even further away near a river. She feels guilt or regret (aka bereavement) about it.

By your and some other people's logic, we all can be sued for discussing any of the criminal news on JT or any social media platform!

Blaming the victim and her family instead of someone that has already been found guilty of acting wrongly? not only unjustified but also irrational.

Virusrex...........Who said they were blaming the victim? The judge did not blame the family; however, survivors do sometimes blame themselves or realize their actions might have made the situation possible or exacerbated it.

How many times have you seen or heard about a situation where a person who realizes that they feel guilt refuse to deal with or discuss an issue. They simply prefer to ignore it and get upset when it is mentioned.

How do we know that this is not one of those situations?

Once again, how can any crimes publicly reported or any topics ever be a part of social discourse if people simply get upset because of their own personal connection?

A judge with a serious lack of judgement.

This is not high school and I don't condone talking smack or putting people down or insulting people but where is your freedom of speech 1st amendment??

I don't see how stating facts in a public case is offensive. The judge didn't kill anyone. The family chose to "take offense", it wasn't given to them.

Are judges in Japan under ethics rules not to say anything about prior cases? It isn't like they are lawyers representing either side (state or defendant). As long as he's impartial DURING the case, I don't see any issue.

OTOH, another court decided to fine him 440,000 yen, so it has to be an ethics violation of some sort.

I'd like more information about the actions causing impeachment, since I have to believe they are actually something a judge shouldn't do.

That a high court judge commented publicly via social media, outside of the court domain, his thoughts on a particularly brutal murder of a minor, is nothing short of indecency.

I'm sure society expects actions from those in elevated positions like high court judges to be above the ordinary when it comes to making common sense, deliberated comments.

A judge’s personal opinion on a crime he gave a verdict on seems like an unprofessional use of power.

He made a judgement, his personal opinion past a trial is moot.

He is taking advantage of his position as an ”insider” in a similar way that politicians take insider information to trade in stocks.

In his case, it’s a sloppy abuse of power.

With authority comes responsibility, and this judge is behaving unprofessionally, imo...

where is your freedom of speech 1st amendment??

Japan doesn’t have a first amendment. The US constitution and its amendments are valid in the US only.

If Judge Kiighi Okaguchi is an established experienced judge, he could sue the prosecutor many more millions of yen!

Is everyone missing the point? In Japan, having details like this release about the death of a minor is frowned upon - even in the media. I could go a step further and assume that girl was willingly participating in some way. Oh wait, that’s exactly why this is so inappropriate.

Virusrex...........Who said they were blaming the victim? 

I am, because your comment makes the baseless claim that the family motives is to avoid taking responsibility about some imaginary fault you think they may have, something that is not supported by any information in the article. You are the one saying that the family "may be" at fault here for accusing the judge of behaving badly, even when the courts have already decided this was definitely the case and that the family was right in their claims.

How many times have you seen or heard about a situation where a person who realizes that they feel guilt refuse to deal with or discuss an issue.

How many times have you seen or heard about people in a position of authority doing things that are clearly wrong? there is absolutely no information that even hints that the family had anything to feel guilty for, and the courts have already decided the judge was wrong. Pretending the opposite "may" be true is baseless.

Once again, how can any crimes publicly reported or any topics ever be a part of social discourse if people simply get upset because of their own personal connection?

The problem is not that people got upset, or that a crime was reported, the problem is a judge acting deeply unprofessionally, even after being repeatedly warned he was doing it. The family had every right to complain, Okaguchi acting like a spoiled brat ignoring explicit instructions to behave as his position required.

So your blaming of the family depends on two mistaken things, one is to baselessly assume the family feels guilty of something and is reacting inappropriately to the judge declarations, the second is that the judge was acting professionally by undermining the authority he is supposed to support by ignoring explicit instructions to stop using social media without consideration of the family.