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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Missouri death row case in US supreme court's hands after execution stay

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Russell Bucklew
The nine justices of the US supreme court must decide on Wednesday whether or not uphold a stay of execution for a death-row inmate in Missouri whose lawyers argue faces a prolonged and agonizing death as a result of a rare medical condition that could complicate the lethal injection process.

The fate of Russell Bucklew, 46, a convicted murderer and rapist, is in the hands of the highest judicial panel in the nation after a night of dramatic legal maneuvers that saw the execution postponed, then reinstated, then postponed again. With moments to go before the midnight deadline, supreme court justice Samuel Alito stayed the execution pending consideration by the full court.

The state has until midnight on Wednesday to carry out the execution, otherwise it must seek a new date.

The question for the inmate's lawyers is whether a majority of five votes can be mustered in the US supreme court to effect a stay. The nine justices are being asked to rule on whether Missouri’s death penalty protocol, that provides for a single dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital probably produced to order in a poorly regulated compounding pharmacy, can assure Bucklew of a reasonably humane death.

In recent cases, including that of Jeffrey Ferguson who was executed by Missouri in March, four supreme court justices have backed a stay: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. That puts an intense spotlight on the traditional swing voter on the court, Anthony Kennedy.

In recent years Kennedy has voted with the liberal wing to restrict capital punishment in certain areas, including banning it for juveniles and for mentally “retarded” prisoners. In 2008 he also wrote the majority judgment, delivered in a five-to-four split, that abolished the death penalty in cases of child rape where no murder occurs.


Source: The Guardian, May 21, 2014
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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Idaho death-row inmate survived injection intended to kill him. Now state will try again.

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Switzerland | The Guillotine of Geneva

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Alabama set to tie record for executions in 50 years with upcoming lethal injection

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Iran Executes 16 People in One Day Amid Surge in Death Penalties

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