JAPAN Tokyo refuses to discuss death penalty review

Although a proposal prepared by legal experts was presented, the Japanese government ruled out creating a commission to review the use of capital punishment. The Cabinet Secretary cited public support for the measure, but jurists believe that the population has not been adequately informed.

Tokyo (/Agencies) – The Japanese government yesterday rejected the possibility of opening a debate on the abolition of the death penalty, in response to the formal request for review that had been presented the previous day by a group of legal and parliamentary experts.

“The government believes that it is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty,” said Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi at a press conference. “The death penalty is inevitable for a person who has committed an extremely serious and atrocious crime,” he added, stressing that his statements reflect the will of the majority of public opinion. Legal experts, however, consider that the public opinion surveys that have been carried out are partial, because a series of important information about capital punishment had not been previously provided.

On Wednesday, November 13, the 16-member group – founded in February at the initiative of the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations – proposed to Parliament that a commission be created to discuss whether or not the death penalty should be maintained. Citing the case of Iwao Hakamata, an 88-year-old man who spent nearly 50 years on death row before being recently acquitted of murdering four people, the group’s petition stressed that “when a mistake is made, it takes a long time.” correct it.”

The group of experts, chaired by Makoto Ida, professor of Criminal Law at Chuo Law School, added that the abolition of the death penalty is part of a global trend (in 70% of countries it is no longer in force ) and Japan and the United States are the only industrialized G7 countries that still impose death sentences. The European Union and Amnesty International have also been putting pressure on Japan for some time.

The revision group also cited the amendment to Japan’s Penal Code in 2022, when the penalty of detention with and without work was introduced, a major change from a punitive system to one that focuses on the rehabilitation and education of the condemned, the jurists commented.

Since 2000, 98 people have been sentenced to death in Japan. The most recent case was in 2022, and nearly a hundred people are awaiting the execution of their sentences, most of them for multiple or especially serious murders.

(Pictured: The Detention Center where one of Japan’s execution chambers is located, Wikimedia Commons)