Criminal penalties for insults set a bad free speech precedent

Japan should resist authoritarian temptation to punish disfavored political speech

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Using the Penal Code to enforce good manners online will pull Japanese prosecutors and police into a swamp from which it will be difficult to climb out. © Reuters

Stephen Givens is a corporate lawyer based in Tokyo.

The Diet's enactment of stiffer penalties for the crime of insult, and the related arrest of a 22-year-old loner for an offensive Twitter post, will test how far Japanese lawmakers intend to go to protect citizens from having their feelings wounded online.

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