www.debito.org

Hello All. We've heard a lot about "foreign crime" (it's on the wide shows every day) these days.

However, there is a strict lack of balance in the media (as well as, as I have mentioned, in the police methods of targeting criminality) on the topic.

As a counterweight, here is an article published today in The Japan Times:

=========================================================
JAPAN TIMES
THE ZEIT GIST
GENERATING THE FOREIGNER CRIME WAVE
By Arudou Debito
Written September 18, 2002, published October 4, 2002

It's become a ritual: Reports about the foreign crime wave.

The National Police Agency recently announced the number of crimes committed by foreigners on temporary visas jumped by 25.8%. Serious crimes like murder, robbery, and arson, up 18.2%. Foreigners are three times more likely than Japanese to commit crimes in groups, etc.. Splashed across the mass media apparently as a public service.

People like reruns. On May 1, 2000, the Sankei Shimbun erroneously front-paged: "Foreign Crime Rises Again, Six-Fold in Ten Years" during a similar press fanfare.

It has an impact. Authorities wonder what to do about these record-high numbers of foreign residents and the crimes they commit.

Past reactions have been quite creative.

On April 9, 2000, Tokyo Governor Ishihara urged the Nerima Self Defense Forces, in the event of an earthquake, to round up illegal foreigners in case they unprecedentedly riot. He did not clarify how to determine an illegal foreigner on sight.

Governor Ishihara's May 8, 2001 Sankei Shimbun essay connected Chinese DNA with criminal tendencies, and alleged that even the Yakuza are scared of foreign-occupied zones.

On February 27, 2002, Kabukichou, with Japan's highest working concentration of foreigners, switched on fifty 24-hour police surveillance cameras. Though Kabukichou's crime rate is indubitably above average, cursory strolls around this pleasuredome never demonstrated any clear or present danger.

Miwa Locks, Japan's best-selling locksmith, advertised in the February 25, 2000 issue of Shuukan Asahi their new foreigner-proof security.

And a 1992 Japanese cop movie, "Heavenly Sins" (Tengoku no Taizai), offered this forensics gem: "Too horrible a murder for a Japanese to commit. Musta been a foreigner."

I understand the Japanese police are just trying to do their job. Maintain public safety and all that. However, in doing so they send the wrong signals.

The Mainichi reported on February 22, 2001 that Nagano banks and government offices displayed prefectural police notices about foreign moneysnatchers. The article also mentioned December 2000 Tokyo Metropolitan Police flyers: call the police if you hear someone speaking Chinese.

In February 2000, the Shizuoka Police Department distributed to shopkeeps a handbook entitled "Characteristic Crimes by Foreigners Coming to Japan". It offers enlightening hints on dealing with local Brazilian and Peruvian customers. Pages 20-21: if a "group" of "two to four" foreigners park outside your store, "write down their licence plate and report it to the police". (http://www.debito.org/A.html)

Thus enlisting the public in racial profiling creates misunderstandings. The most famous case was in Hamamatsu, when a jewelry store ejected a Brazilian woman named Ana Bortz. The shopkeep found himself losing an anti-discrimination lawsuit in 1999.

Ms Bortz was lucky. Foreigners arrested on circumstantial evidence, such as parking near a crime scene, may be in dire straits. Japanese police investigations can legally deny suspects access to a lawyer or a consulate for two days, plus detain them an additional 21 days if a judge approves. As the US State Department last year reported "credible" cases of physical and psychological abuse, accidental arrest in Japan is no joke.

But let's return to the crime stats. No space here to question specific data (save the inflation of crime by including "visa violations"--which only foreigners can commit), so I'll focus on the science involved.

One reason for the statistical rise is the sampling process.

If police choose to target foreigners, the number of foreigners arrested will rise. Likewise if every Japanese is, say, stopped on a bicycle on suspicion of theft, more Japanese criminals will appear. Unfortunately, as I reported here last June about the Yasukuni Doori bike cops, foreigners are easier to pick out.

With the daily reports of Japanese committing patricide, matricide, and infanticide, not to mention the omnipresent biker gangs ruining many a night's sleep, police should try to maintain a balance. Temper their reports with comparisons to rising Japanese crime.

The media should at least acknowledge a statistical fact of the sample: The foreign population is growing while the Japanese one is not. More foreigners present means more foreigners who can commit crime. In actuality, some foreign crimes, both as an absolute and as a proportion of the total population, have fallen.

But reporting that would go against the sociology of crime. If the Japanese crime rate is reported as rising--which it is--the police will be seen as not doing their job. If the foreign rate reportedly rises, then more blame falls on the bad guests, who shouldn't be here making trouble anyway.

Not to mention that anticipating unpredictable foreign criminal behavior (visible in the overreaction to hooligans in Sapporo during the World Cup) helps police budgets grow.

This must stop. With Japan's aging society and groaning tax base, both the UN and a Prime Minister's commission reported in 2000 that Japan needs immigration.

Attracting and assimilating immigrants would be much easier if police stop fearmongering. Afford residents equal protection of the law. Not unequal application and reporting.

813 words
(Links to substantiation for all claims in my article may be found at
http://www.debito.org/A.html)



(A different version--updated with the Nakano Police information--of this article was published in the Japan Times, October 4, 2002 in the Zeit Gist column:

http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20021004zg.htm
PUBLISHED FIGURES ARE HALF THE STORY
Foreigner crime stats cover up a real cop-out

The title is good, but I like my version of the article better--especially because the vital paragraph about "the sociology of crime" in Japan, was edited out. Pity. Also, the editor did not run the revised version of the article by me before publication, which is also a pity.)

Here's how it came out.


THE ZEIT GIST
PUBLISHED FIGURES ARE HALF THE STORY
Foreigner crime stats cover up a real cop-out
By ARUDOU DEBITO

The National Police Agency recently announced that the number of crimes committed by foreigners on temporary visas jumped by 25.8 percent.

Serious crimes like murder, robbery, and arson, were up 18.2 percent.

Feasting on the statistics, the mass media headlined such salient points as foreigners are three times more likely than Japanese to commit crimes in groups.

On May 1, 2000, the Sankei Shimbun erroneously ran on its front page: "Foreign Crime Rises Again, Six-Fold in Ten Years."

And authorities have come up with some creative ways to deal with this crime wave.

On April 9, 2000, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara urged the Nerima Self Defense Forces, in the event of an earthquake, to round up illegal foreigners in case they riot. He did not clarify how to determine an illegal foreigner on sight. Gov. Ishihara's May 8, 2001 Sankei Shimbun essay credited DNA with giving Chinese criminal tendencies.

It's not just the authorities though who are cashing in.

Miwa Locks, Japan's best-selling locksmith, in February 2000 advertised their new foreigner-proof security.

A 1992 Japanese cop movie, "Heavenly Sins" (Tengoku no Taizai), offered this forensics gem: "Too horrible a murder for a Japanese to commit. Musta been a foreigner."

These hysterics are sending the wrong signals.

The Mainichi Shimbun reported Feb. 22, 2001 that Nagano banks and government offices displayed prefectural police notices about foreign money snatchers showing a blond gentleman stealing from a Japanese woman's bag in a bank while his (blond) accomplice asked the victim how to use the ATM. The article also mentioned December 2000 Tokyo Metropolitan Police flyers: call the police if you hear someone speaking Chinese.

In February 2000, the Shizuoka Police Department distributed to shopkeepers a handbook entitled "Characteristic Crimes by Foreigners Coming to Japan."

The Tokyo Nakano Police recently issued several signs depicting foreigners as criminals. A notice posted at Nakano Sakaue Subway stations read "Beware of bagsnatching bad-foreigner groups prowling for people on the way back from banks! Their methods include dropping small amounts of money nearby, or distracting people by spraying shaving cream on their backs, saying 'your clothes are dirtied,' and then snatching your money."

It continued, mostly in red ink: "If a suspicious foreigner (fushin na gaikokujin) calls out to you, do not take your eyes or hands off your money or your bag."

Another banner in the area read; "Watch out! Bagsnatchings by bad foreigners who have come to Japan (rainichi furyou gaikokujin) frequently occur (tahatsu).

Nakano Police acknowledged producing and distributing these bagsnatcher notices. They claimed that it was in response to widespread reportage of risingcrime by foreigners. While unable to provide specific figures they did admit that the number of bagsnatchings has actually fallen within their precinct.

But profiling in this way breeds distrust and misunderstanding. And foreigners arrested on circumstantial evidence, such as parking near a crime scene, may be in dire straits. Japanese police investigations can legally deny suspects access to a lawyer or a consulate for two days, plus detain them an additional 21 days if a judge approves the action. As the U.S. State Department reminded us last year with its reports of "credible" cases of physical and psychological abuse, accidental arrest in Japan is no joke.

But let's return to the crime stats. There's no space here to question specific data (save the inflation of crime by including "visa violations" -- which only foreigners can commit), so I'll focus on the science involved.

The sampling process contributes to the statistical rise.

If police choose to target foreigners, the number of foreigners arrested will rise. But with the daily reports of Japanese committing patricide, matricide, and infanticide, not to mention the omnipresent biker gangs, police should try to maintain a balance.

And the media should acknowledge the statistics: The foreign population is growing, the Japanese one is not.

More foreigners present means more foreigners who can commit crime. In actuality, some kinds of crimes by foreigners, both the absolute number of them and as a proportion of the crime total, have fallen.

But if the Japanese crime rate is reported as rising -- which it is -- the police will be seen as not doing their job.

Selective reporting and unfair profiling must stop. With Japan's aging society, both the United Nations and a prime minister's commission reported in 2000 that Japan needs more immigration, not less.

Attracting and assimilating immigrants can only happen if residents are afforded equal application of the law and reporting.

The Japan Times: Oct. 4, 2002
(C) All rights reserved


Arudou Debito
Sapporo

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