U.S. citizens criticize parole of U.S. soldiers who killed and injured three Japanese people
American citizens are also criticizing the fact that a US soldier who caused a traffic accident in Japan in 2021 that killed and injured three people was released on parole shortly after being transferred to his home country in the middle of his sentence.
The American soldier was inmate Captain Ridge Alconis of the US Navy , and in May 2021, while he was serving at Yokosuka Air Base, his family was driving on a road in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture, when he crashed into a restaurant parking lot, killing two people. One person was killed and one person was seriously injured. Alconis was tried in a Japanese court, and a second-trial judgment in July 2022 confirmed his three-year prison sentence. However, in December of last year, halfway through his sentence, he was transferred to the United States, and on the 12th of this month, he was released on parole by the decision of the U.S. Parole Board. Criticisms received from US citizens regarding Mr. Tapper's post. This news sparked a strong backlash in Japan, with U.S. Senate Representative Mike Lee calling the imprisonment of Alconis unjust and saying on social media, ``Japan should apologize to (Alconis') family and the United States.'' When I posted it above, I got a lot of criticism. Criticism has also been voiced by American citizens, including not only Rep. Lee, but also a post by CNN reporter Jake Tapper who called Alconis' parole "great news". If the voices of criticism continue to rise, it is expected that the relationship between Japan and the United States will be affected, but so far there have been no comments from the Japanese and American authorities on this matter.
