(The Japanese government has it all in manga form. Because Japan, presumably.)
I know we have some NihonDopers among us, but this could be a template for other places the moment politicians think being tough on crime will win them votes. In some respects, we might have some stirrings of that over here already:
Executive orders aren’t laws and only sometimes have a large effect on society, but ‘tough on crime’ is a common political slogan and this seems like a plan that’s simple to get peoples’ heads wrapped around.
It’s already worked for Japan once:
Also, there’s this:
(Bolding mine.) If you go the police before they find out, however, they will not prosecute; that seems like precisely the kind of thing that would get lost in translation.
Now, for the debate: I think this is a wonderful policy, if only on game-theoretic grounds, and I would love to see it implemented here. Any objections?
It follows the logic that you don’t negotiate with terrorists. I’ve suggested a similar approach to piracy before, since the only reason anyone hijacks a ship is because they think they’ll come out on top. If pirates never get paid, there’s no incentive to become a pirate.
how do they define the yakuza for enforcement purposes? And how are they going to differentiate between “protection money” and “spending money at Soprano-kun’s totally legit pachinko parlor”? After all, over here in America a lot of organized crime involves coercing businesses to do legit business with the mob-controlled companies under less-than-optimal conditions, not just handing over cash to thugs.
And it’s total weak sauce. If it were implemented somewhere like the US it might make a difference. But not in Japan. The article itself explains why:
“Blackmail and extortion are huge money makers for the mob in Japan.”
In other words, if you pay protection money to the yakuza, or use them to facilitate your business affairs, you will be treated as a criminal. You may be warned once, but if you persist in doing business with the yakuza, you may have your name released to the public, be fined, imprisoned, or all of the above.
Or, most likely, you’ll just be warned again. Yep, they’ll warn your ass so bad (until you find a way to get around the law).
Isamu: Aren’t most Dopers Americans? Anyway, I’m American. I linked to an American website. America America America, and all that. Tut tut.
Also, I think you’re missing a feature: If the business comes to the police before the police have to come to them, they’re not prosecuted. This gives businesses an incentive to not only comply, but to be quick about it because they can’t know how much the police know about them.
If you want this to be an American-only website, which it is currently not, all you need to do is petition the administrators to make it so. Otherwise, it is as it always has been, open to most of the world. Most non-Americans on this board continue to let you pretend otherwise, so you don’t look like a fool. Each to their own.
I haven’t missed anything. If they don’t come forward they risk being warned. If they do come forward they risk much worse.
Consider: if you pay protection money, you are now a criminal as well. Once you get started, you have very, very good reasons to continue. Basically, the law criminalizes being under pressure which the law itself apparently isn’t being effective about stopping. The result may well be a toughening of the criminal underbelly, as victims decide the extortioners are at least fair about being bastards.
How far will the Yakuza go in pressuring its victims? If the law makes you pay monetary penalties, is it consistent with their modus operandi for the Yakuza to threaten to do things worse than just taking your money?
Well, it’s sort of blaming the victim, isn’t it ?
The police should be arresting the Yakuzas doing the extortion in the first place. For a host of reasons (many of which involve lack of resources/manpower, corruption, fear and believe it or not, the popularity of the Yakuza), it doesn’t, or does in really half-assed ways. However, the poor schmucks who already get hit up by Yakuza goons for pocket change demonstrably don’t have people protecting them - if they did, they wouldn’t get taxed now would they ? So, they’re a soft target for everyone, including the police. They’re easy marks. Fuckable aplenty.
On paper, it’s win-win for the police, because it pisses off the Yakuza without directly antagonizing them - no retaliation there. It’s also lasting, because the Yakuza are not going to spot fine or bail money for their racket victims - that would be retarded, it’s supposed to work the other way 'round !
But… from the point of view of the poor schmuck, it pretty much sucks the whole way. First he’s not getting helped by the police when people in expensive suits and cheap baseball bats come knocking, then he’s getting screwed for ponying up the money (paying a fine over paying a racket, that’s pretty ironic), then he’s left to dry. And then , presumably, the guys in suits come knocking again because why wouldn’t they ?
All of this, and having done nothing more illegal besides being scared shitless of violent people (the police included - the Japanese police is notoriously unsubtle in its methods andcan be a bit… random in what it enforces and when, or who it decides is guilty).
Aside from which, I know a thing or two about japanese law. Specifically, it’s one of the cruellest and least fair tings in any decent democracy on eath. Those cops are the nastiest buggers on the planet.
Except no one’s coming to Norway’s Johns with a bunch of thugs forcing them to go out looking for hookers. There’s no reason why that shouldn’t be illegal.
This just means the poor bastards getting squeezed by the Yakuza get victimized twice; first by the Yakuza, then by the cops.
Actually both Sweden and Norway have done it, and there are plenty of reasons why it shouldn’t be illegal, but that’s not the point of this thread.
It really seems to me that this law gives businesses that have been squeezed an even greater disincentive to go the police about it, without giving them any real incentive to refuse to pay (“I’m sorry, Mr Yakuza, I can’t give you that money. It’s illegal” ). I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how it actually works in practice, though.
I can’t see anyway how this is enforcable. I’d imagine that most Yakuza payments are already in the form of forced business to Yakuza owned businesses, hostess bars would be the easiest marks. As a business owner you get a visit, saying that if you don’t want trouble, just go to XYZ hostess club and spend one hour a week. That hostess club happens to charge 15,000 yen or so “System” for a one hour stay.
Of course if your business is more successful, they insist you have to buy a couple of top shelf drinks for the girls, suddenly its more like 40,000 yen for a one hour stay.
You get a receipt and everything, there is no way to prove that you’re not just a business owner addicted to hostess bars (as many many Japanese males are) or that you knew a particular Hostess bar is Yakuza owned.
In fact the above scenario and money laundering in general, is the only one which makes sense to me exactly how there can so many hostess bars all over Japan.
Sice I didn’t check this thread, I didn’t know you asked. While not the only reason, imagine first the incredibel pressure American cops can successfully bring to get confessions. Now imagine that ina society built around enforced “harmony”.
). I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how it actually works in practice, though.