Section 4 Appeals
In 2009 the rate of Joso appeals against final judgments made in a court of first instance (percentage of persons that filed Joso appeals (Koso appeals and direct Jokoku appeals) of those finally disposed, but excluding those whose dispositions were made final due to a dismissal of prosecution, withdrawal of a request for a formal trial, or transfer decision, etc.) was 10.3% in the case of district courts and 5.3% in the case of summary courts. Of persons finally disposed in Koso appeal trials in high courts in 2009, 7,070 (97.4%) were disposed in cases where appeals were made by the defendant only, 118 (1.6%) by the public prosecutor only, and 68 (0.9%) by both, with two cases involving a reversal or remand, etc. (Source: Annual Report of Judicial Statistics).
Table 2-3-4-1 shows the number of persons finally disposed in Koso appeal trials in high courts by type of offense and judgment in 2009. Dismissal of Koso appeals was the most common at 4,892 persons (67.4%), followed by withdrawal of the appeal at 1,508 (20.8%) and then those whose first instance judgments were reversed and rendered at 812 (11.2%).
Of the 824 persons whose original judgment was reversed in a high court the most common reason for that reversal was due to circumstances after the original judgment at 470, followed by an inappropriate sentence at 198, and then an error in finding fact at 96 (those with two or more reasons for reversal count in each pertinent reason) (Source: Annual Report of Judicial Statistics). For 20 persons, their original guilty judgments in the first instance were reversed and they thereby were found not guilty (Source: Annual Report of Judicial Statistics). Of the 20 persons for whom public prosecutors filed Koso appeals against a not guilty judgment in the first instance 14 had their original judgments reversed and thereby found guilty (Source: Annual Report Statistics on Prosecution).
Table 2-3-4-1 Number of persons finally disposed in Koso appeal trials by type of offense and judgment (2009)
The Jokoku appeal rate (percentage of persons who filed Jokoku appeals of those finally disposed but excluding those whose dispositions were made final due to dismissal of the Koso appeal, the withdrawal of the Koso appeal, or dismissal of prosecution) against judgments made in Koso appeal trials in 2009 was 39.3%. Of 2,311 persons in Jokoku appeal cases finally disposed in the Supreme Court (including those whose first instance was dealt with in a high court) 1,846 (79.9%) involved dismissal of the Jokoku appeal, 450 (19.5%) withdrawal of the Jokoku appeal, three dismissal of prosecution, three their first instance judgments being reversed and rendered, and nine reversals and remands/transfers. (Source: Annual Report of Judicial Statistics).