リスク要因の特定と裁判官の啓発

国外の裁判所においては、日本人の親による子供の誘拐や、日本家族法に関する訴訟を今まで扱ったことがない裁判官は、その状況を信じがたいと思うかもしれません。あなたがこのことを実感するのは、裁判官が、監視下での子供との面接や、日本への旅行制限を命じることにあまり気が進まないと言うのを聞くときでしょう。（あなたの弁護士でさえ、これを信じがたいと思っているかもしれません。その場合は、日本に関する訴訟経験がある弁護士を、新たに探すことを考慮すべきです。）この場合、あなたが挑戦しなければならない大きな課題の一つは、以下のような問題について、裁判官を啓蒙することです。

• 子供が日本に連れていかれたら、子供の親権ばかりでなく、子供との全ての接触を完全に失ってしまう可能性がある。 
• 日本の家庭裁判所は、外国人の親対日本人の親の離婚訴訟判決に偏りがある。子供の親権、面接権に関する国外の裁判所命令や国外で決められた事項をほとんど認めないばかりでなく、日本で裁判管轄権を執行し、誘拐後の日本における新たな現状を基にして、日本独自の相反する裁判所命令を出す。
• 日本の家庭裁判所は自らの判決を強制執行することさえできないのだから、まして、日本で時折認められる国外の裁判所命令を執行することはない。

日本の法律と裁判所においては、家族法の問題が他にも数多くありますが、これらの問題点は、あなたの訴訟裁判管轄区の裁判所の権威に真っ向から挑戦するものです。したがって、あなたが、監視下での面接、日本人の親の親権獲得の阻止、旅行制限命令、日本への子供の移転申請拒否、あるいは、日本人の親への他の法的予防措置などを要請しようとしているなら、これらは重要な論点になるということです。

Be prepared to show the court why prevention provisions are needed. Focus arguments on three factors (1) the risk of abduction and any threats or other indications by the Japanese parent that they might abduct; (2) the potential harm the child would likely suffer if abducted; and (3) obstacles to locating and recovering the child if an abduction were to occur. When the risk of abduction is high, the child is likely to be harmed, and obstacles to recovery exist that would be difficult to overcome, strict preventive measures are needed.

<TODO: Rewrite last paragraph to give more info on each factor.>

Japan Specific Materials

• In the Best Interests of the Court: What American Lawyers Need to Know about Child Custody and Visitation in Japan; Colin P.A. Jones; Asian Pacific Law and Policy Journal, University of Hawaii; Volume 8, Issue 2, Spring 2007.  The first sentence is "Japan is a haven for parental child abduction."  This may finally be what you need to convince your lawyer or a judge of  the fact that you and your child's rights could be violated simply by allowing a parent to take your child to Japan to visit, much less to relocate.

• Letter to Left Behind Parents and other US State Department evidence - This page documents evidence from the US State Department which may be useable in a US or other court of law to help you obtain supervised visitation, travel restraining orders, denial of a request to relocate, or other related court orders against a Japanese parent.

• Marbury v. Madison and The Matrix: What Child Custody and Visitation in Japan Show us about the Japanese Court System - Written by a western lawyer who is fluent in Japanese, this is the best overview available of the problems with Japanese family law.  Published on the website of the Australian Network for Japanese Law.

• Case law precedents concerning a Japanese parent in a non-Japanese court - This listing is currently US centric, but if you have cases from other countries, just send them in for inclusion on this list.  This also goes thru a number of specific requests for protective measure that you can request from a judge. 米国中心ですが、他国のケースも送付してリストに加えてもらうとよいでしょう。

• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Japan’s International Family Law including Nationality Law - article by Yasuhiro Okuda from Hokudai Hôgaku Ronshû, Vol. 54, No. 1, 456 and based in part on a report regarding the Child Convention that the author prepared on behalf of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.  Contains an excellent section on international child abduction and a frank discussion of the fact that Japan will basically do nothing to help parents and is unlikely to change. (cached copy)

General Materials on Parental Abduction

以下に挙げるものは必ずしも日本特有のものではありませんが、いずれも子供を連れ去る危険性のある親に見られる“性格特徴”と特性を指摘しています。このいずれか、あるいはいくつかを裁判所で出国制限命令の執行や、親権否定に対して裁判所の支援獲得、また監視なしに日本人の親との面接交渉の際などに利用できるかもしれません。

A study, Prevention of Parent or Family Abduction through Early Identification of Risk Factors, conducted by Dr. Janet Johnston (Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition) and Dr. Linda Girdner (ABA Center on Children and the Law), identified six personality profiles that may predict parents who may pose a risk of abduction. These characteristics have been written into various state laws of the United States.

• Parents who have threatened to abduct or abducted previously;
• Parents who are suspicious and distrustful due to a belief abuse has occurred and have social support for these beliefs;
• Parents who are paranoid-delusional;
• Parents who are sociopathic;
• Parents who have strong ties to another country and are ending a mixed-culture marriage;
• Parents who feel disenfranchised from the legal system (e.g., poor, minority, victim of abuse) and have family/social support.

You can obtain this study by contacting Howard Davidson, Director, ABA Center on Children and the Law, (202) 662-1740, or the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, (800) 638-8376. Two related articles may be found at: (1) Johnston, Janet and Girdner, Linda, Early Identification of Parents At Risk For Custody Violations and Prevention of Child Abductions, Family and Conciliation Courts Review, Vol. 36, No. 3, July 1998 392-409 and (2) Johnston, Janet R., L. Girdner, and I. Sagatun-Edwards, Developing Profiles of Risk for Parental Abduction of Children from a Comparison of Families Victimized by Abduction with Families Litigating Custody, Behav. Sci. Law 17:305:322 (1999).

• Early Identification of Risk Factors for Parental Abduction (PDF). Johnston, J. R., & Girdner, L. K. (1998). Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 36, 392-409. 米国司法省による文書。日本特有ではありませんが、誘拐者とその家族の特性を識別するために設けられた4つのリサーチプロジェクトの結果を基に子供の連れ去りの防止、またはそれに対応するために実際に行われた介入の有効性を検証。国際間における誘拐と日本国内の誘拐、勾留に関する情報も含む。 (キャッシュ HTML、 PDF)
• The Epidemic of Parental child-Snatching: An Overview 親による誘拐についての概要。 William Rigler裁判官著、米国・ニューヨーク最高裁判所。親による誘拐阻止の試み、適用可能な米国法、ハーグ条約について論じる。特に子供を誘拐しうる性格プロフィールに言及。 (キャッシュ)
• Parental Kidnapping : Prevention and Remedies; Patricia M. Hoff; American Bar Association Center on Children and the Lawの弁護士; American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law 2000年12月。親による誘拐の危険性について裁判官を啓発するための優れたセクションあり。 また外国人の親側の弁護士にたいして、誘拐の脅威をあまりに軽く捉える傾向に警告する非常に具体的なアドバイスがある。この文献を弁護士に提示するとよいでしょう。 (キャッシュ)

• Resources for Judges on International Parental Child Abduction - Although not Japan specific, this US State Department website contains a lot of materials that are useful for educating judges about the overall problem of international parental abduction and identifying risky situations and personality types likely to abduct a child.

• Parental Child Abduction is Child Abuse by Nancy Faulkner, Ph.D Presented to the United Nations Convention on Child Rights in Special Session, June 9, 1999.  (cached copy)

Press Articles

• Child custody in Japan isn't based on rules; San Francisco Chronicle; August 27, 2006.  A law professor discusses why institutional reasons rather than cultural ones are to blame for bad family law in Japan.  Much of Japan's family law is based on the need to cover up the fact that Japanese courts are powerless to enforce their own decisions.  It contains an example of culturally biased opinions regarding visitation made by a prominent "family expert" in a book on visitation, as well as descriptions of apparently mainstream anti-visitation opinions expressed by family court mediators.  Both of these, until now, were only available in Japanese. (cached copy)