The Japanese government’s continued use of the death penalty demonstrates a contempt for the right to life, Amnesty International said, following the execution of two men on Thursday. Since May 2009, district courts try capital cases using the lay judge system, where three professional judges sit with six randomly chosen citizens. Amnesty International argues that the Japanese justice system tends to place great reliance on confessions, even ones obtained under duress. For several, the stay has been over 30 years (Sadamichi Hirasawa died of natural causes at the age of 95, after awaiting execution for 32 years).[10]. The Tokyo High Court originally gave him a life term, but, in 1983, the Supreme Court of Japan held it was an error, and quashed this sentence. In 1873, another revision resulted in a further reduction in the number of crimes punishable by death, and methods of execution were restricted to beheading or hanging.[4]. [31] The Asahi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun, both major national liberal newspapers, wrote in editorials that the general public favored the judgment, and the Nikkei lent its support to it. Executions are In Japan, the courts follow guidelines laid down in the trial of Norio Nagayama, a 19-year-old from a severely disadvantaged background, who committed four separate robbery-murders in 1968 and was finally hanged in 1997. Japan ended a moratorium on the death penalty in 1993. [25], Supporters say that capital punishment is applied infrequently and only to those who have committed the most extreme of crimes—a single act of murder does not attract capital punishment without additional aggravating circumstances such as rape or robbery. Eight of them have already been executed and Watanabe, who killed four people when he was 19 years old, remains on death row awaiting execution. The bodies of … In December 2001, two men were hanged. [10], South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre claims that the issuance of death warrants by the Ministry of Justice may be politically motivated. [31][32] The Tokyo Shimbun expressed that capital punishment would be the inevitable sentence in consideration of the brutality of the murder and the pain that the victim's family felt. We use cookies to collect information about how you use GOV.UK. In Japan, the courts follow guidelines laid down in the trial of Norio Nagayama, a 19-year-old from a severely disadvantaged background, who committed four separate robbery-murders in 1968 and was finally hanged in 1997. [27] Fumiko Isogai, who lost her only child in this crime, launched a campaign to call for the death penalty on the three murderers in September 2007. Inmates are held in solitary confinement and are forbidden to communicate with their fellows. In the 2009 survey, ‘86% favoured retention’, according to the Japanese Cabinet Office. Even though the death penalty has been under fire from international rights groups, a majority of the public has shown support for it. Officials do not give advance public notice of executions, and those condemned usually learn they … ‘In Japan, as of 2012, 19 crimes are eligible for capital punishment, including 7 crimes that do not result in the loss of life’. The Tokyo High Court originally gave him a life term, but, in 1983, the Supreme Court of Japan held it was an error, and quashed this sentence before sending Nagayama back on death row. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, "LIST OF DEFENDANTS WHO ARE UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH IN JAPAN", "Unpersuasive logic for death penalty in Japan", "Death Penalty for Hikari City Mother-Child Murder Case", "To advise lay judges, Supreme Court institute cites death penalty precedents", https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id=912643, "Takefuji arsonist, ex-yakuza hanged for eight murders", "Double-killer as minor will face gallows", Cabinet Office poll: 80% of respondents think death penalty 'permissible', "Japan's death penalty effectively scrapped with arrival of Keiko Chiba", "Chiba urges death penalty debate | The Japan Times", "Man serving life for murder gets death sentence for another slaying", "Japan executes first prisoners since 2010", "AUM Shinrikyo cult founder Asahara, 6 ex-followers executed at once", "Japan hangs all 6 remaining Aum death row inmates", https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/27/national/crime-legal/japan-executes-two-death-row-inmates-thursday-morning-sources/#.XCRIXPx7m00, "Japan hangs 2 death-row inmates, 1st executions this year", "Chinese man executed for killing family of four in Fukuoka", David T. Johnson, "Japan’s Secretive Death Penalty Policy: Contours, Origins, Justifications, and Meanings", A Secret Theater: Inside Japan's Capital Punishment System, Japan executes two prisoners amid protests, Calls to abolish death penalty grow louder in Japan, Japan: Man hanged as secretive executions continue, Ishida, Kaneko, Goto & Masaki: "The Quest to Scrap Japan's Death Penalty", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Capital_punishment_in_Japan&oldid=998185896, Articles with dead external links from February 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles containing potentially dated statements from February 2013, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The study found that, while prosecutors very rarely demand capital punishment in cases of single murder, it was handed down in 32% of those cases. "The death penalty is the only way for a murderer to compensate for taking a person's life," the grandfather, Tsuneo Matsumura, told The Japan Times this year. Even minor offenses could be punished by death, and family members and even neighbors could be punished along with the offender. Several panels will seek to address the use of the death penalty in Japan and globally. Supporters note that Japan has the lowest murder rate in the world.[36]. Zama serial killer's death penalty finalized | NHK WORLD-JAPAN … Furthermore, in 5 of 10 kidnap-for-ransom cases in which one person was killed, the defendants were sentenced to death.[7]. [28], Although single murderers rarely face a death sentence in Japan, Takeshi Tsuchimoto, a criminal law scholar at Hakuoh University and former prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office, expected that the recent trend toward harsher punishments, backed by the growing public support for capital punishment, would encourage the court to sentence Kanda and Hori (of the Rie Isogai case) to death. … A Japanese court finalized on Tuesday a death penalty ruling given to the man dubbed Japan's "Twitter killer" after he withdrew an appeal filed by his lawyers in the case related to the 2017 serial murders of nine people who posted suicidal thoughts on social media. Japan's Supreme Court jurisprudence on the death penalty : This page was last edited on 4 January 2021, at 05:57. [26] However, it is more the rarity of extreme crimes in Japanese society rather than an unwillingness of the authorities to carry out executions that has caused so few executions to take place.[22]. According to a 2005 Amnesty International report: Most have been sentenced to death on the basis of confessions extracted under duress. Japan's death penalty laws and how they are applied, including death row and execution numbers, death-eligible crimes, methods of execution, appeals and clemency, availability of lawyers, prison conditions, ratification of international instruments, and recent developments. Iwao Hakamada has been on death row since 1968 (46 years). How the crime was committed; especially the manner in which the victim was killed. The other defendant sentenced to death did not appeal and was hanged in 2015.[33]. These harsh methods, and liberal use of the death penalty, continued throughout the Edo period and into the early Meiji period, but due to the influence of Confucianism, offenses against masters and elders were increasingly punished much more harshly than offenses against those of lower rank. Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. Japan and the United States are the only two members of the Group of Seven advanced economies that have the death penalty. On the other hand, prosecutors seek the death penalty almost systematically in cases of multiple homicide, and it is handed down in 59% of cases of double-murder and 79% of cases where three or more victims have been killed. The UK opposes the death penalty in all its forms. Five were hanged in 1999, three in 2000. There are reports of physical abuse, sleep deprivation and denial of food, water and use of a toilet. Five votes of nine-member court, including at least one professional judge, are required for issuing a conviction and any punishment, including death. This recent history suggests that, as unlikely as capital punishment is to be abolished in the U.S., abolition may be even less foreseeable in … Since 1999, there have been a series of cases in which criminals sentenced to life imprisonment have been given the death penalty after prosecutors successfully appealed to high courts. Inmates lack many of the rights afforded to other Japanese prisoners. The death penalty was not used for 346 years following the execution of Fujiwara no Nakanari in 810, until it was revived during the Hōgen rebellion. In Japan the death penalty is executed by hanging, with execution dates not made public until after the penalty is carried out. Two men have been executed in Japan ’s secretive death chambers, as human rights groups called for an end to the “deplorable” punishment. The potential for miscarriages of justice is built into the system: confessions are typically extracted while suspects are held in daiyo kangoku, or "substitute prisons", for interrogation before they are charged. Most are multiple murderers. [17], As of February 2013[update], the most recent juvenile death sentence was given to Takayuki Fukuda, passed by the Hiroshima High Court on 22 April 2008, and upheld by the Supreme Court on 20 February 2012. [27] However, one of the two men sentenced to death in the Isogai case had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment on appeal, and the Supreme Court refused to raise the punishment to death (but he was later sentenced to death in another murder case). That … A 2014 government survey … The death penalty is carried out by hanging in an execution chamber within the detention centre. [22] Between 1989 and 1993, four successive ministers of justice refused to authorise executions, which amounted to an informal moratorium. "[24] The Times' speculation was conclusively disproven when Chiba signed two death warrants and personally witnessed the execution. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. The execution warrant is signed by the Minister of Justice after internal consultations within the justice ministry. The Japanese Government conducts surveys on public opinion on the death penalty approximately every 5 years. The British newspaper The Times claimed that the death penalty was effectively suspended on 17 September 2009 with the appointment of Keiko Chiba, who was a member of anti-death penalty MPs caucus group, as Minister of Justice. [16], Nine juvenile criminals have received death sentences that were finalised since 1966: Misao Katagiri, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Mitsuo Sasanuma, Fumio Matsuki, Sumio Kanno, Tsuneo Kuroiwa, Norio Nagayama, Teruhiko Seki and Takayuki Mizujiri. (more information on the. [11] Prisoners are not allowed to exercise within their own cells. Japan’s death penalty, a cruel and unusually popular punishment. There is a global trend towards abolishing the death penalty. Japanese death row inmates are imprisoned inside the detention centres of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, Fukuoka, Hiroshima and Sapporo. On 18 March 2009, a district court sentenced to death two men for the murder of Rie Isogai. [23] However, no official policy statement was made in this regard. [29] Major national newspapers published editorials in support of this unorthodox judgment on the premise that capital punishment is retained. According to Amnesty International (an international NGO), 140 countries are ‘abolitionist in law or practice’ and 58 retain the death penalty. The third case was that of a man convicted of murdering an elderly woman for robbery shortly after being paroled from a life sentence imposed for a similar crime. Among them are Norio Nagayama and Takayuki Fukuda, both under 20 at time of crime. Degree of remorse shown by the defendant. Torture was used to extract confessions. All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, Amnesty International (an international NGO), PIP administrative exercise: progress on cases cleared, at 14 June 2019, Border Force transparency data: February 2016, Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance and support, Transparency and freedom of information releases. However, the period requesting retrial or pardon is exempt from this regulation. Only a few executions are carried out each year. Outcome of the crime; especially the number of victims. Prisoners are also ‘not informed of the date of their execution until shortly before it occurs (usually just an hour or two notice is given).’ Because of this ‘mental illness appears to be common’ among these prisoners. A death sentence handed down for a single murder (previous convictions included) is considered "extraordinary". Defendant's age (in Japan, the age of majority is 20). [6] The nine criteria are as follows: The number of victims killed is the most important criterion for imposition of the death penalty. Japan has more than 100 prisoners on death row. By statute, the execution cannot take place on a national holiday, Saturday, Sunday, or between 31 December and 2 January. in the case of Australia and Japan, receiving prior assurance before an offence has been committed that the death penalty will not be applied. What do you think about the information above? ‘The only method of execution in Japan is hanging, and Japan’s government acknowledges that its method of hanging has not changed since 1873’. The death penalty is usually reserved for cases of multiple murders, though some single murderers have been executed in extraordinary cases like torture murder or kidnap-for-ransom. The nature of the regime they live under is largely up to the director of the detention centre, but it is usually significantly harsher than normal Japanese prisons. Japan, one of the few industrialised democracies to maintain the death penalty, threw open the doors to its mystery-shrouded execution chamber for the first time to media in 2010. Executions in Japan remain shrouded in secrecy but the government cannot hide the fact that it is on the wrong side of history, as the majority of the world’s states have turned away from the death penalty. Of them, 89 are applying for their cases to be reopened and 25 are requesting amnesty. [35] The Japanese Federation of Bar Associations also says that capital punishment should be abolished in Japan. Chiba only stated that "I will cautiously handle (the cases) based on the duties of the justice minister. You’ve accepted all cookies. The death-sentenced inmate himself is only informed of the execution a few hours before it takes place. In Japan, as in other countries, there are also other elements of the punishment that cause concern. They are kept in a ‘single cell and separated from other prisoners’ and ‘contacts with other people are severely restricted’. Japan’s Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that the death penalty should be implemented within six months of the issuing of the sentence, but … However, beginning in the Nara period, cruel punishments and the death penalty were used less and less, probably as a result of the influence of Buddhist teachings, and the death penalty was abolished completely in the Heian period. [8], In only three cases since 1945, the Supreme Court ruled a high court-imposed life sentence too lenient, and ordered a retrial for death sentence. [31] They also noted, however, that it would be difficult for citizen judges to determine whether death penalty would be appropriate in this kind of case under the lay judge system, which would be started in May 2009. According to Amnesty International, the intense and prolonged stress means many inmates on death row have poor mental health, suffering from the so-called death row phenomenon. The prisoner's family and legal representatives, and also the general public, are informed only afterwards. Buy Japanese Moratorium on the Death Penalty 1st ed. have hardened attitudes amongst the public and the judiciary. [14], As of August 2014, the number of inmates on death row was 126. Four have lived in those circumstances for over 30 years’. What do you think about the death penalty in Japan? According to government statistics, around 80 per cent of Japanese are still supportive of hanging for heinous crimes. [19][20], The Japanese public has generally supported the death penalty. You can change your cookie settings at any time. [3], During the following Kamakura period, capital punishment was widely used and methods of execution became increasingly cruel, and included burning, boiling and crucifixion, among many others. It is applied in practice only for murder, and executions are carried out by hanging. [34] One of its biggest criticisms is that inmates usually remain for years (and sometimes decades) on death row without ever actually being informed of the date of their execution prior to the date itself, so inmates suffer due to the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not any given day will be their last. Following an unfair trial, Hakamada was convicted of the murder of his boss, his boss’s wife and their two children. The United Nations has continuously requested for Japan to at least suspend the implementation of the death penalty (officially in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016). In practice these are police cells, where detainees can be held for up to 23 days after arrest, with no state-funded legal representation. Japan’s death penalty, a cruel and unusually popular punishment It can take decades for the condemned to meet their fate, and guards – not professionals – do the ‘unbearable’ task. Fifteen were executed last year, including 13 members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult. The court ruled that the penalty shall be decided in consideration of the degree of criminal liability and balance of justice based on a nine-point set of criteria. The defense team of defendant Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, appealed the death sentence on Friday. ‘As of January 2013, Japan had 135 inmates on death row. [31] Hiroshi Itakura, a criminal law scholar at Nihon University, said that this decision could be a new criterion for capital punishment under the lay judge system. [29] She presented her petition for the death penalty with some 150,000 signatures to the District Public Prosecutors' Office of Nagoya on 23 October 2007. They are typically interrogated for 12 hours a day: no lawyers can be present, no recordings are made, and they are put under constant pressure to confess. The death sentence for a 30-year-old man dubbed Japan’s “Twitter killer” over the serial murders of nine people in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2017 was finalized on Tuesday, court officials said. Japan has a civil law legal system, therefore, appeal courts retry both facts and law. One of the three judges who convicted Hakamada has publicly stated he believes him to be innocent. In 1997, Norio Nagayama, a prisoner who committed the first of several murders as a juvenile, was executed during the sentencing phase of "Sakakibara Seito" for the Kobe child murders, also resulting in a high-profile juvenile murder trial – an attempt, according to South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center, to show that the harshest punishment could be administered to juveniles. To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. A death penalty ruling given to the man dubbed Japan's "Twitter killer" is set to be finalized after he withdrew an appeal filed by his lawyers in the case related to the 2017 serial murders of nine people, a court said Wednesday. Since 7 December 2007, the authorities have been releasing the names, natures of crime, and ages of executed prisoners. Japanese death row inmates are executed by hanging. However, according to the NGO ‘The Death Penalty Project’, ‘male and younger respondents are under-represented’ by the survey, meaning that ‘the results published from the government survey became questionable’. In 2012, a research institute affiliated with the Supreme Court issued a report on application of the death penalty from 1980 to 2009. Japan is one of a dwindling number of developed nations to maintain the death penalty, with public support for the practice remaining high. Amnesty International reports that a man named Hakamada, who is now 77, has been on death row in Japan for 45 years, and is therefore the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner. … Also the NGO said that ‘even those who express strong support for capital punishment modify their views in response to new information’. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Don’t forget you can join the discussion by sharing your thoughts on Twitter, using the hashtags #DeathPenalty #HumanRights. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone. For example, did you know that: ‘In Japan, as of 2012, 19 crimes are eligible for capital punishment, including 7 crimes that do not result in the loss... ‘As of January 2013, Japan had 135 inmates on death row. 2016 by Obara-Minnitt, Mika (ISBN: 9781349720088) from Amazon's Book Store. Therefore, in practice, the typical stay on death row is between five and seven years; a quarter of the prisoners have been on death row for over ten years. Check how the new Brexit rules affect you. The death penalty in Japan, Amnesty International Japan (2006a, p. 3) claimed that that the measure is a ‘violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment’. The Cabinet Office of Japan’s most recent survey shows that support for the death penalty remains high, with over 80% approval, while less than 10% support an end to capital punishment. Do the Japanese public support the death penalty? [15], Having signed both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which forbid any executions for those under the age of 18, Japan sets the minimum age for capital punishment at 18 (Juvenile Law § 51). The study also found that the death penalty was handed down in all cases of convicted murderers who killed again after being released on parole from life prison terms, and in all robbery-murder cases with three or more people slain. High courts retry cases with only three judges and no lay judges, and can either reduce a death sentence to life or raise a life sentence to death. [13], The method of hanging is the long drop,[citation needed] causing instant unconsciousness by neck fracture and death by hypoxia resulting from strangulation. [9], According to Article 475 of the Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure, the death penalty must be executed within six months after the failure of the prisoner's final appeal upon an order from the Minister of Justice. The government regularly monitors support for the death penalty, the last survey in 2015 showing 80.3% of the public believing that the death penalty is "permissible" and 9.7% that it should be abolished. The condemned is given a choice of the last meal. In 1871, as the result of a major reform of the penal code, the number of crimes punishable by death was decreased and excessively cruel torture and flogging were abolished. Death row prisoners are kept in cruel conditions. During the late 1980s, four death penalties that were waiting since the period just after World War II were quashed and exonerated by the Supreme Court. Sentiments of the bereaved family members. The full Death Penalty in Japan report is available in English as a PDF and available in Japanese. [31] The Sankei Shimbun, a major national paper on the right, aggressively evaluated the judgement with a phrase "a natural and down-to-earth judgment of great significance". [21] At a 2003 trial, a Tokyo prosecutor presented the court a petition with 76,000 signatures as part of his case for a death sentence.[22]. [34], Amnesty also reports allegations of abuse of suspects during these interrogations. [28] Within ten days, her petition was signed by 100,000 citizens. Get informed with some thought-provoking facts, findings and questions from the Death Penalty in Japan report. Japan has the longest serving death row inmate in the world. The death penalty in Japan 18 July 2017 Amnesty opposes the death penalty at all times – regardless of who is accused, the crime, and their guilt or innocence. Since executions resumed in 1993, a rise in street crime during the 1990s, the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 and several high-profile murders[such as?] A 2015 government survey found that 80.3 per cent of people supported the death penalty. • Capital punishment is the legal penalty for murder in Japan. [18] A month after his 18th birthday, he killed and then raped a woman, along with murdering her baby. Japan’s Code of Criminal Procedure states the death penalty should be implemented within six months of the sentence being issued, but that is almost never the case. Japan and the US are the only G7 countries that have the death penalty. Despite having high courts, Tachikawa Detention Centre and Takamatsu Detention Centre are not equipped with execution chambers; executions administered by the Tachikawa and Takamatsu High Courts are carried out in the Tokyo and Osaka Detention Centres.