Upon the request of the public prosecutor and based on a summary order, the summary court may impose a fine or petty fine of not more than 1,000,000 yen before the trial, for cases under its jurisdiction. In this case, the summary court can suspend the sentence, order a confiscation, or take other supplementary measures.
簡易裁判所は、検察官の請求により、その管轄に属する事件について、公判前、略式命令で、百万円以下の罰金又は科料を科することができる。この場合には、刑の執行猶予をし、没収を科し、その他付随の処分をすることができる。
confiscation
没収
A punishment that can only be added to a principal one (付加刑) (Penal Code, Article 9): a thing connected with the crime is confiscated. What may be confiscated is the thing that makes up the crime, a thing used or meant to be used for it, a thing it produced or gained or that was received as a reward for it, and what was received in exchange for such a thing (Article 19, paragraph (1)); only a thing belonging to no one but the offender, unless someone else acquired it after the crime knowing the facts (paragraph (2)). For a crime punishable only by penal detention (拘留) or a petty fine (科料), only the thing that makes up the crime may be confiscated, unless a special provision says otherwise (Article 20). Where a thing gained by the crime cannot be confiscated, its value may be collected instead (追徴) (Article 19-2).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 19, 19-2, 20 as a reference.
fine
罰金
A criminal punishment of paying money to the state, of 10,000 yen or more, or less where it is reduced (Penal Code, Article 15). It ranks below imprisonment (拘禁刑) and above penal detention (拘留) and a petty fine (科料) (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)). A person who cannot pay it in full is held in a workhouse (労役場) for one day to two years, or up to three years where fines are imposed together, a period set when the sentence is passed (Article 18, paragraphs (1), (3) and (4)); not within thirty days of the sentence becoming final without the person's consent (paragraph (5)). If it is not enforced for three years after the sentence becomes final, the person is released from it by prescription (Articles 31 and 32, item (v)); the three years do not run while its execution is suspended under law or the person is abroad, and an act of execution interrupts them (Articles 33 and 34, paragraph (2)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 15, 18, 31 to 34 as a reference.
petty fine
科料
The lightest criminal punishment: paying 1,000 yen or more but less than 10,000 yen (Penal Code, Articles 9, 10 and 17). A person who cannot pay it in full is held in a workhouse (労役場) for one day to thirty days (Article 18, paragraph (2)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 17, 18 as a reference.
public prosecutor
検察官
The official who brings a prosecution (公訴) for a crime before a court (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 247), and who may decide not to prosecute where, in view of the offender's character, age and circumstances, the gravity and circumstances of the offence and what happened after it, prosecution is not needed (Article 248). In criminal cases a public prosecutor asks the court to apply the law correctly and oversees the carrying out of its judgments; and, as the representative of the public interest, a public prosecutor also does the work other laws and regulations assign to a public prosecutor, which is not limited to criminal cases (Public Prosecutors Office Act, Article 4). A public prosecutor may investigate any crime (Article 6, paragraph (1)). Public prosecutors work through the public prosecutors offices (検察庁): the Supreme, High, District and Local Public Prosecutors Offices (Article 1).
Written by AI using Code of Criminal Procedure, Arts. 247, 248 and Public Prosecutors Office Act, Arts. 1, 4, 6 as a reference.
summary court
簡易裁判所
One of the four kinds of lower court (下級裁判所) beneath the Supreme Court, with the high courts (高等裁判所), the district courts (地方裁判所) and the family courts (家庭裁判所) (Courts Act, Article 1, and Article 2, paragraph (1)). A summary court has jurisdiction at first instance over civil claims whose value does not exceed 1.4 million yen, other than claims in administrative cases, and over criminal cases for offences punishable by no more than a fine or for which a fine is one of the penalties the law allows, among others (Article 33, paragraph (1)). A petition for court mediation goes, unless a special rule says otherwise, to the summary court for the place where the other party lives or has its business office or other office, or to a district court or summary court the parties agree on (Civil Mediation Act, Article 3, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Courts Act, Arts. 1, 2, 33 and Civil Mediation Act, Art. 3 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.