imprisonment
拘禁刑
The punishment of being held in a penal institution (刑事施設), for life or for a fixed term of one month to twenty years (Penal Code, Article 12, paragraphs (1) and (2)); a fixed term can be raised to thirty years where the punishment is aggravated, or cut below one month where it is reduced (Article 14, paragraph (2)). To help the person reform and rehabilitate, they may be made to do work or given guidance (Article 12, paragraph (3)). It ranks below the death penalty and above a fine (罰金) among the principal punishments (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)). It replaced imprisonment with work (懲役) and imprisonment without work (禁錮) when the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc. (Act No. 67 of 2022) came into force (Act No. 67 of 2022, Article 2), and a person sentenced to either is treated, for the rules on a person's qualifications, as sentenced to imprisonment for the same term (Act No. 68 of 2022, Article 443, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 12, 14, Act No. 67 of 2022, Art. 2 and Act No. 68 of 2022, Art. 443 as a reference.
suspended sentence
執行猶予
A court's decision, when it passes a sentence, to hold off carrying it out. A person sentenced to imprisonment (拘禁刑) of three years or less or a fine (罰金) of 500,000 yen or less who has not been sentenced to imprisonment before, or not within five years of finishing such a sentence, may have the whole of it suspended for one to five years from the day the judgment becomes final (Penal Code, Article 25, paragraph (1)), and may be put under probation (保護観察) for that time (Article 25-2, paragraph (1)). A person whose earlier imprisonment was itself wholly suspended may have a new sentence of two years or less suspended again where there are especially extenuating circumstances, and is then put under probation (Article 25, paragraph (2); Article 25-2, paragraph (1)). If the period passes without the suspension being revoked, the sentence loses its effect (Article 27, paragraph (1)), unless a prosecution is pending for a crime committed in the period, in which case it stays in effect and can still be revoked (paragraphs (2), (4) and (5)); it must or may be revoked if, for example, the person commits another crime in the period and is sentenced to imprisonment without suspension (Articles 26 and 26-2). A sentence of imprisonment of three years or less may also be suspended in part, the rest being served first (Article 27-2).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 25 to 27-2 as a reference.