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February 18, 2008
Anna Kitanaka
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Anna Kitanaka
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"US forces cause outrage in Okinawa - again"
In the wake of recent press reports about the junior high school student allegedly raped by a US marine, there have been many angry foreign residents of Japan complaining that the Japanese media are making this into a bigger deal than it is; that rapes occur every day and that the media would not respond as zealously should it have been a Japanese national accused of this crime. There have been cries that this type of media reaction ultimately boils down to xenophobia and they also fail to forget the “innocent until proven guilty” law.
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However, although it can be said that the Japanese media harangue suspects before they are tried, many forget that this US military rape issue is on a wider scale. Firstly, there are political implications – the Okinawan officials have voiced their anger and Prime Minister Fukuda, appearing before a Diet committee Tuesday, described the incident as “unforgivable.” For anti-base Okinawans, such incidents are important in the campaign to get Tokyo either to ask the US to leave, or get more compensation for carrying the military burden: 70% of US military personnel in Japan are in Okinawa.
The issue is also historical. This new case has rekindled memories of the 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old Okinawa girl by three US servicemen, an incident that triggered mass resentment against the US military presence in Okinawa. The problem was that the US military was not made by law to hand over the suspected rapist to Japanese authorities and the struggle that the Japanese police faced in the handover caused outrage from Japan. The US marines refused to handover rape suspects unless they are indicted and this refusal could be seen time and time again through the many rape cases that Okinawa has faced throughout the years and gives the impression that the US forces would overtly protect their troops regardless of morals. Similarly, when a US army helicopter crashed in to Okinawa International University a few years ago, local police were not allowed to be involved in the investigation.
This time, the US forces have announced that a task force will review and reinforce its sexual harassment and assault prevention programs but cleaning up the reputation of the US forces in Japan will be near impossible should a repetition of cases like these continue.
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Here are the statistics! (via the Japan Times --Michael Hassett
Submitted by Afro Eric (not verified) on February 28, 2008 - 18:23.
THE ZEIT GIST
[LIFE IN JAPAN]
U.S. military crime: SOFA so good?
MICHAEL HASSETT
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080226zg.html
****THIS DATA IS REPORTED FROM AND CREDITED TO THE ABOVE SOURCE****
****Moderator: Please delete below text if this does not meet posting guidelines.****
The stats offer some surprises in wake of the latest Okinawa rape claim
On Friday night, Aug. 18, 2006, at a third-story apartment within a gated community outside Atlanta, Ga., 31-year-old Kendrick Ledet sat contemplating life. And death.
Ledet was familiar with various forms of high-tech weaponry — particularly the semi-automatic M-16 rifle — but on this day he decided to go low-tech, departing from us slowly by slicing through the arteries in his arms with a knife.
Moments earlier, this terribly troubled soul had forcefully struck a coworker in the head before strangling her with his forearm. And that was preceded by a violent sexual assault. She was only 22 years old, a student studying marketing at a nearby university.
Three years before the parents of Lauren Cooper happened upon this awful scene inside their daughter's apartment, the perpetrator of this crime, Ledet, was among us here in Japan.
Well, not exactly among us, since he was doing hard labor inside a Japanese prison. From 1996 to 2003 Ledet resided in a Yokosuka jail, where he spent many of his waking hours assembling cell phones and making auto parts for Mazdas and Nissans.
And before that? Well, if you've been in Japan for a while, you probably know the rest of the sordid story: In September 1995, Ledet and two of his buddies from Camp Hanson on Okinawa decided to rent a van, kidnap a 12-year-old Japanese girl, force duct tape over her mouth, bind her hands and rape her repeatedly.
Disgusted? I was. The memory of this atrocious crime came flooding back to me upon hearing of the latest charge of rape against yet another U.S. serviceman. Moreover, it brought back to mind a remarkable claim I came across while reading about the shift of many U.S. forces to Guam: The assertion that members of the U.S. military are four times less likely than a Japanese citizen to commit a crime on the island of Okinawa.
Skeptical? I was. Let's look at the numbers and see what they really tell us.
First, we need to know how many Japanese and non-Japanese we have in this country, and how many tourists are passing through. In 2006, Japan had a total population of 127.77 million people. Some 2.08 million of those were registered foreigners, and 51,321 of those registered foreigners were U.S. citizens not covered under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Japan and the U.S.
A SOFA clarifies the terms under which a foreign military is allowed to operate in another country, and covers service members, their dependents and certain civilian workers. In October 2006, the American military community in Japan consisted of 96,790 SOFA-covered individuals.
During the same year, Japan welcomed a little more than 4.98 million foreign tourists, and 490,472 of those were from the U.S.
Now let's see how many arrests we had that year. The National Police Agency reports 384,250 for penal code offenses, such as murder, bodily injury, bicycle theft and the like. Of these arrests, 14,418 were of non-Japanese, 211 of which were U.S. citizens not covered by the SOFA and 120 of which were SOFA-covered individuals. Illegal immigrants were responsible for 13.2 percent of penal code offenses by non-Japanese.
In addition to penal code offenses, there were 83,147 arrests for special law violations. Non-Japanese accounted for 12,303 of these, 84 of which were U.S. citizens not covered by the SOFA and 25 of which were SOFA-covered individuals.
What's a "special law violation"? Basically it's a breach of a certain established law, such as the Stimulants Control Law, Firearms and Swords Control Law, or even the Horse Racing Law.
Now, before we continue, take note that here in Japan an arrest indicates that a person was taken into custody by police. It does not indicate whether the case was prosecuted in court or whether the suspect was convicted.
A little math gives us an arrest rate of 0.351 percent for Japanese in Japan. For non-Japanese here — tourists and registered residents, excluding illegal immigrants and SOFA-covered individuals — the arrest rate would be a little lower at 0.326 percent, assuming that illegal immigrants were also responsible for 13.2 percent of special law violations. And if we were to deem arrests of tourists to be negligible, the rate for registered non-Japanese residents would surge to around 1.115 percent.
For U.S. tourists and U.S. citizen residents of Japan not covered by the SOFA, the arrest rate would be 0.054 percent. And if we were to assume arrests of U.S. tourists to be negligible, the arrest rate for U.S. citizens not covered by the SOFA would increase to 0.575 percent.
A strong argument can be made against the inclusion of transgressions of the Immigration Control Law and the Alien Registration Law, which may inflate arrest numbers of non-Japanese. But Japanese can and do violate these laws. In 2006, of the 35 arrests for violations to the Alien Registration Law, eight of those arrests were of Japanese.
Moreover, once we move down this path of discounting particular transgressions, we open up a giant can of worms because certain other laws — the Public Elections Law, for instance — could be considered to be inherently biased against Japanese.
The rates we have calculated so far are for the entire Japanese archipelago. However, approximately 75 percent of the total land area exclusively used by U.S. forces in Japan is located in Okinawa. So let's narrow our focus to Okinawa Prefecture.
In 2006, the Okinawan islands had a population of 1,368,000 people, 6,808 of which were registered foreign residents not covered by the SOFA. In 2006, there were 4,188 arrests for penal code offenses and 605 arrests for special law violations. Foreigners not covered by the SOFA were responsible for 44 of these penal code offenses, and we can use partially reported figures to estimate that this group committed around 22 special law violations.
Doing the math gives us an arrest rate of 0.342 percent for Japanese in Okinawa, a bit lower than the rate for the entire country.
Now let's turn to the U.S. military in Okinawa. There are about 42,570 SOFA-covered Americans living in the prefecture. In 2006, 63 SOFA-covered individuals were arrested for penal code offenses. Eleven arrests for special law violations can be estimated. A little math using these numbers gives us an arrest rate of 0.174 percent, about half that of Japanese in Okinawa (0.342) and the entire country (0.351).
Shocked? I am! It's particularly surprising when you consider that almost half the U.S. military population is 25 years old or younger. In fact, 80 percent of U.S. service members are younger than 35. And men comprise nearly 85 percent of the U.S. military force.
If we were to attribute 80 percent of arrests of Japanese in Okinawa to men and women aged 15 to 64, a group that makes up 65.1 percent of the prefecture, the arrest rate among Japanese in this age bracket in Okinawa would rise to 0.420 percent. In fact, we would have to attribute 67 percent of arrests in Okinawa to those under the age of 15 and over the age of 64 before the arrest rate of Japanese in the 15-to-64 age bracket would fall below that of SOFA-covered individuals in the area. Shocking indeed!
Let's not pretend, though, that living among foreigners trained to kill is Disney in fatigues. On-base arrest data is not released. Environmental issues and land-use concerns abound. And noise has always been a problem.
However, there were no arrests in Japan of SOFA-covered individuals for rape or sexual assault in 2006, even though the NPA did arrest 1,094 Japanese for rape and another 4,733 for sexual offenses — that's nearly 16 a day.
Many feel that society would be great if we had no need for military forces, but as long as governments don't feel the same way the fact remains that we have to put them somewhere. All of which raises the question: Is it hypocritical to give such disproportionate media exposure to crimes committed by U.S. service members when the data shows that their adherence to our laws apparently exceeds our own?
Questions about data, calculations and sources used in this article can be directed to the author at mshassett@gol.com. Send comments on this issue to community@japantimes.co.jp
The Japan Times: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008
(C) All rights reserved
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A Former Marine's Opinion
As a father and former-Marine (stationed in Okinawa for 4-years and a Kansai/Kanto resident civilian for 12-years), I find the Staff Sergeant's actions VERY unbecoming of a U.S. Marine and as a man. My Japanese wife and I planned to purchase property in Okinawa but now that is on hold.
The Japanese media will continue to have a field day with this. As rightly stated, this is fuel for those that demand the removal of US Forces Japan personnel and bases, various forms of compensation from the US and Japanese governments, and/or a revision of the Status of Forces Agreement.
Various English language newspapers and blogs in Japan have blasted the "accused" while many Japanese language blogs have blasted the young girl for being out late and leaving with an adult strange; demanded to know why the victim's parent(s) did not do a better job of parenting; and certain politicians in Okinawa for using the incident to further their political agenda. Very bad press on both sides.
It does not the matter if the girl was naive, she is a victim. Her parent(s) lacking certain parenting skills? Maybe but their daughter is still a victim. The politicians? Well, stop victimizing the victim. Where are the women's rights groups when women in Japan need help dealing discrimination, sexual harassment, and mizushobai? Come on, stop picking your battles. Help the young girl and her parents without throwing politics into the mix.
Lastly, those that live on and around the military bases know that A VERY SMALL percentage of USFJ military and dependents DO NOT get into trouble, especially when it comes to serious crimes. If you compare the latest incidents to what is reported and to Japan as a whole, you will find that the US military has a pretty good track record of staying out of trouble. And yes, I tracked all incidents involving USFJ and USFK. Do not allow the foolishness of a few individuals to cast a bad light on approximately 50,000 US service men and women (and their dependents). The US military has provided a service (freedom, democracy, protection) that many take for granted.
Remember to be fair in reporting! Punish the guilty but do not "smear" the rest of the U.S. military (and their dependents) or foreigners with a broad stroke!
Regards,
AE
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Information on the USFJ (Approximate number as of October 2007):
U.S. DoD Personnel in Japan
Army 2,386
Marine Corps 15,433
Navy 5,991 (less US Navy 7th Fleet)
Air Force 12,483
Total Military (Ashore) 36,293
US Army:
U.S. civilian personnel 761
Family members 3,958
US Marine Corps:
U.S. civilian personnel 626
Family member 9,732
US Navy:
U.S. civilian personnel 1,142
Family member 7,488
US Navy 7th Fleet:
Military personnel 12,141
Family members 6,324
US Air Force:
U.S. civilian personnel 771
Family members 19,667
Department of Defense Facts:
80% of military members are younger than 35
Just over half of military members are married
Almost half of military population is 25 years old or younger
Women comprise nearly 15% of the military force
More than 92% of enlisted members have a high school diploma and/or some college experience
Typical spouse age: 26-34 years
70% of spouses are 35 years old or younger
Source: http://www.usfj.mil/