Arrested is not the same as convicted. I lived in Japan for a few years, and I have heard of similar situations to what the article describes.

In Japan you can be arrested while an investigation is in process, only afterwards you will be indicted. Additionally, Japan does not permit defendants to post bail prior to an indictment.

Yes Japan has a really high conviction rate, but that is because they indict only cases were a conviction is likely.

Arrests don't need to lead to the person being indicted.

It's actually not. You can be arrested and then released without charges, which is not a conviction but does not factor into the conviction rate statistic.

I was going to say the same thing. OP in this case would not count toward either percentage, what you have to wonder is how many people get charges dropped who get put through the ringer.

It also makes the act of accusing incredibly powerful, and you have to wonder what threshold there is and whose accusations matter, because this severe punishment for dropped charges feels extremely powerful.

Not surprising if you can detain people for long periods under harsh conditions without charging them.

If they confess, it counts as a win. If they don’t, you release them but it’s not a loss (as they were not charged).

The author doesn't seem to have been charged with anything, so her release doesn't affect the 'conviction rate' - but she was arrested.

By comparison, you might consider https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-tha... :

> In fiscal year 2022, only 290 of 71,954 defendants in federal criminal cases – about 0.4% – went to trial and were acquitted

Of charges, not arrests.

> Japan has a conviction rate of 99.8%

So does the US.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/11/only-2-of...

And your point is?