"Interrogation audiovisual recordings set to expand"

From The Japan News, 20 June 2014:

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office said Wednesday it will expand the test interrogation audiovisual recording program from October.

Currently under the program, public prosecutors record the questioning of criminal suspects in cases with lay judges, as well as suspects with mental disorders.

The recording is conducted as part of prosecutors’ three-year efforts to restore credibility that was undermined by evidence falsification and cover-up scandals at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office.

Now that the program has proved the recordings’ effectiveness in helping the court determine whether suspects gave confessions to interrogators voluntarily and whether they are credible, the nation’s top prosecutors office plans to record the questioning process for bribery suspects, sexual violence and child abuse victims, and spouses of murder suspects, the office said.

Source: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001364503