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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 governor refuses to stay execution despite injection controversy

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Russell Bucklew, scheduled to be killed despite botched Oklahoma execution, is centre of Guardian suit over drug secrecy.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said Monday that he doesn't see any reason to halt the execution of an inmate whose attorneys claim he could suffer during the lethal injection because of a rare medical condition.

Russell Bucklew, who was convicted of killing a southeast Missouri man during a crime spree in 1996, is scheduled to be the first person put to death in the US since a botched execution in Oklahoma last month. His injection is set for 12.01am Wednesday.

"This guy committed very, very heinous crimes and while it's a difficult and challenging part of this job, we'll continue to move forward unless a court says otherwise," Nixon told the Associated Press in an interview.

Bucklew, 46, has a congenital condition known as cavernous hemangioma that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, as well as tumors in his nose and throat. His attorneys, in several court filings and interviews, have said he could experience a great amount of suffering during the execution process, and Bucklew told the AP in a phone interview last week that he is scared of what might happen.

None of the six inmates executed since Missouri switched to pentobarbital last year have shown outward signs of pain or suffering. But when Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett's execution went awry on 29 April, it prompted renewed concern over lethal injection.

Lockett's vein collapsed and he died of an apparent heart attack 43 minutes after the start of the punishment. Oklahoma put on hold a second execution scheduled for the same night as Lockett's death, while the state investigates what happened.


Source: The Guardian, May 19, 2014
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Photos of maximum-security prisons in Norway and the US reveal the extremes of prison life

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US Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence, in Florence, Colorado. Inside the walls of the toughest prison in the US, a fork is a deadly weapon. Inside the walls of Norway's toughest prison, a fork is, well ... a fork. The differences extend far past silverware. In just about every way, the approaches that the US and Norway take to criminal justice fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. While the US uses isolation to punish offenders and keep them away from civil society, Norway prefers to rehabilitate its inmates so they can return to the outside world — there are no life sentences . No two prisons make that difference more clear than the super-max Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence , in Florence, Colorado and Halden Prison , in Halden, Norway. Not all US prisons are as strict as ADX, and while Halden is technically maximum-security, it's still closer to the rule than the exception in Norway. Here's what life is like at both e
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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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Wyoming | One of Matthew Shepard’s Murderers Denied Sentence Reduction

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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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