Okinawa Governor Speaks Out Against U.S. Military After Fourth Sexual Assault Case in Past 12 Months
It does not look like it is a great time to be on Okinawa right now with the increased scrutiny on military crimes:
Government officials representing Japan and Okinawa repeated pleas to the U.S. military to discipline its population following a fourth sexual assault allegation against a service member on Okinawa in just over a year. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi urged U.S. Forces Japan to “tighten discipline and thoroughly prevent reoccurrences” of criminal incidents involving service members, according to video of a Thursday news conference posted on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s website.
“Generally speaking, crimes and accidents caused by U.S. service members cause strong anxiety to the local community and shouldn’t happen,” Hayashi said. “The important thing is that the series of preventive measures announced by the U.S. side do actually prevent accidents and crimes.” Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki on Wednesday expressed “strong anger” on social media platform X about the latest case, in which Okinawa police allege a Marine in his 30s injured a woman during a sexual assault in November. That day, Okinawa Prefectural Police forwarded the case to prosecutors for possible charges, according to a police spokesman.
You can read more at the link.
I assume there’s some SOFA reason the offending troops aren’t handed over to Japanese justice.
@Kevin Kim, the Japanese can hold US servicemembers accused of crimes, especially if they are the ones that do the initial arrest. Where it becomes tricky is if a servicemember commits a crime and he isn’t caught and makes it on post. Then the Japanese have to contact the US military to make the arrest. According to the SOFA they don’t have to hand the person over. Here is what the SOFA says:
The custody of an accused member of the United States armed forces or the civilian component over whom Japan is to exercise jurisdiction shall, if he is in the hands of the United States, remain with the United States until he is charged by Japan.
With that all said, there has been examples of when servicemembers have been handed over to the Japanese when requested.