Michael Brown Okinawa Assault Incident - SOFA Controversy

SOFA Controversy

The issue of violent crime, especially rape and murder, committed by U.S. servicemembers on Japanese citizens in Okinawa has often strained relations between the U.S., Japan, and the local Okinawan government. The U.S. has argued that "extraterritoriality" or "extrality" (meaning the right of a foreigner charged with a crime to be turned over for trial to his own diplomatic representatives in accordance with his national law) granted its military members under the SOFA is necessary to afford them the same rights that exist under the U.S. criminal justice system. Since the SOFA also exempts most U.S. military members from Japanese visa and passport laws, past incidents occurred in which U.S. military members charged with crimes by Japanese authorities on Okinawa were transferred back to the U.S. without facing prosecution in Japanese courts. In cases where the charged servicemember remained in Japan, Japanese authorities often did not have access to question or interrogate the U.S. servicemember, making it difficult for Japanese prosecutors to prepare a case for indictment.

The issue became central to the demand by many Okinawans and other Japanese citizens for the significant reduction and eventual elimination of U.S. military forces stationed in Okinawa. In the opinion of many Japanese citizens living in Okinawa, the U.S. used the SOFA to shield U.S. servicemembers who committed crimes against Japanese citizens from the Japanese criminal justice system. The September 4, 1995, widely reported rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen caused the U.S. and Japan to revise the SOFA, stating that in the future, the U.S. would give "sympathetic consideration" to the hand-over of U.S. servicemembers accused of violent crimes such as rape or murder to Japanese authorities before indictment. To many in Okinawa, the incident involving Brown appeared to fall under this new provision in the SOFA. After the initial allegations involving Brown were publicized and before charges had even been filed, Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine publicly stated, "This is a heinous crime trampling on female human rights. Moreover, this is a crime committed by a marine corps major, a person who should be in a leadership position."

Japan had requested that the U.S. hand over suspects before indictment in three previous cases to which the U.S. had complied. On December 3, 2002, Japan's national government asked that Brown be transferred to Japanese police officials for confinement, but in this case the United States declined to do until an indictment was handed down. The U.S. embassy stated, "The government of the United States has concluded that the circumstances of this case as presented by the government of Japan do not warrant departure from the standard practice as agreed between the United States and Japan." On December 10, 2002, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the United States to immediately transfer Brown to Japanese authorities and called on the Japanese national government to again demand Brown's immediate hand-over. The resolution condemned the United States' refusal to hand over Brown, calling it, "in defiance of our country's judicial setup and in disregard of its sovereignty" and "intolerable". Keiichi Inamine added, "I have come to fully realize anew that a thorough review of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement is necessary."

Because of this and subsequent incidents by U.S. servicemembers on Okinawa, including another rape of a local woman by a U.S. Marine, the governors of fourteen Japanese prefectures in which U.S. military forces were stationed urged the ruling Liberal Democratic Party "to secure a true Japan-U.S. partnership through a revised Status of Forces Agreement." On July 2, 2003, Japan and the United States opened negotiations into modifying the SOFA, but the negotiations failed to produce any change to the current agreement.