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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Japan: Bar association to lobby embassies on death penalty abolition

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The Japan Federation of Bar Associations said Friday it will step up consultations with the European Union on abolishing capital punishment and will work to encourage public debate.

The Japanese criminal justice system came under negative global scrutiny this year when a death-row inmate was freed after 48 years in prison. In March, a court freed Iwao Hakamada, 78, pending a re-examination of a 1966 murder case in which investigators allegedly faked evidence.

The federation will set up a panel of lawyers with experience of foreign criminal justice systems and will consult foreign embassies in Japan.

"We want to create opportunities to think about capital punishment, by deepening cooperation with the European Union . . . and by disseminating information," said Yuji Ogawara, a lawyer at the federation.

The EU is strongly against capital punishment.

Source: The Japan Times, June 6, 2014
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