2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Criminal defense under the newly established court-appointed defensecounsel system

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19730052
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Criminal law
Research Institution	Tohoku University
Principal Investigator	SATO Takayuki Tohoku University, 大学院・法学研究科, 教授 (30242069)
Project Period (FY)	2007 – 2009
Keywords	刑事弁護 / 被疑者弁護 / 国選弁護
Research Abstract	Since October, 2006, a suspect charged with a certain serious crime has had the right to request a judge to appoint a defense counsel and the scope of criminal cases eligible for the request has been expanded as from May 21, 2009. Under this newly established court-appointed criminal defense counsel system, the role of defense counsel during investigation has become more important in our criminal justice system. This research aims to clarify the standards of the effective representation demanded by the constitutional right to counsel and points out some indispensable viewpoints and measures to guarantee the adequate level of assistance without prejudicing the autonomy and independency of defense counsel, which would be of great importance to establish the guidelines on criminal defense in the near future.