Japan: Capital crimes soon to lose statute; Diet to heed demands of the victimized, ensure culprits can't evade justice over time

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government recently approved a bill to abolish the statute of limitations on crimes that could be punishable by hanging in a move experts say signals a major shift in the justice system.

The bill, which would amend the Criminal Procedure Law and the Penal Code, also would lift the maximum statute of limitations to 30 years for crimes punishable by life imprisonment, to 20 years for crimes punishable by 20 years of imprisonment, and to 10 years for crimes punishable by lesser prison terms.

The bill is based on proposals submitted to the justice minister in February by the ministry's Legislative Council. They discussed the revision based on the findings of the study group that worked under the previous Liberal Democratic Party-led government.

Observers said the bill, to be submitted to the current Diet session, will be passed by the end of June because the LDP, now the largest opposition force, is unlikely to vote against it.

Following are basic questions and answers about the statute of limitation and what led to the planned revisions:

What is the statute of limitations and why is it in place?

The statute demarcates the period in which specific legal action, namely prosecution, can be pursued.

According to the Justice Ministry, the general assumption is the statute exists because with the passage of time, evidence in crimes is lost, making it more difficult to file charges and lessening the chances for a fair trial.

The social demand that a culprit be brought to justice over a crime also wanes with the passage of time, the ministry said.

In 2007, the statute of limitations expired for 58 murders, 20 arsons, 146 robberies and 78 rapes, according to ministry statistics.

When was the statute of limitations established?

The system dates to the 1880 Criminal Procedure Law, based on recommendations by Gustave Emile Boissonade de Fontarabie, a French jurist who was invited by the Imperial government to assist Japan in compiling various codes.

At the time, perpetrators of heinous crimes, including murder, robbery and rape, would not face prosecution if they evaded justice for 10 years. The statute underwent minor revisions up until the end of World War II.

Then came the Criminal Procedure Law of 1948, which set a 15-year statute of limitations for crimes subject to the gallows, a 10-year statute for crimes subject to life imprisonment and a seven-year statute for crimes that could warrant a prison term exceeding 10 years.

These statutes remained until 2004, when they were extended amid demands for harsher punishment for heinous crimes.

Under the revised code, the statute for crimes punishable by death was extended to 25 years, that for crimes subject to life imprisonment was increased to 15 years, and crimes warranting sentences of 15 years or more were boosted from seven to 10 years.

Are there exclusions to the prescribed statutes?

Yes. By law the statute is suspended if a suspect flees abroad.

It can also be put on hold for an alleged offender until the trial of an accused accomplice is completed.

Why are the statutes again under review, and the one for capital crimes being abolished?

People victimized by crimes have been demanding an end to the statute and have complained that they have been left out of the justice system. This pushed LDP-led administrations to begin considering heeding their demands.

Sora no Kai, a nationwide group of murder victims' families, has been demanding that the statute for murder be abolished and, if not, at least suspended while investigations into slayings continue. In some of the slayings of their loved ones, no arrests have been made.

"We have felt a contradiction between the fact that the law allows a culprit to lead a life without punishment, despite claiming the precious life of another," they said in a statement to the ministry's Legislative Council. "Don't laws exist to protect the rights of people to pursue a happy life? Does the law protect the rights of a person who took someone's life?"

The group also wants a system established that allows the next of kin of murder victims to sue the government for compensation for failing to protect the life and property of its citizens.

Compared with the 2004 revision, the current bill would not only abolish the statute on capital crimes but would cover crimes that took place before the expected changes, as long as the statute hasn't expired.

The revisions would not be applied to closed cases.

Also, one reason for abolishing the statute on heinous crimes is that forensic science, particularly DNA analysis, has advanced to the point where it is possible to solve some cold cases.

Are there concerns about abolishing the statute for capital offenses or suspending it amid ongoing investigations?

Attorneys have claimed that ending the statute would make it difficult for them to defend clients because, for example, the memories of witnesses may have faded and evidence may be lost due to the passing of time.

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations said a better option would be to hone the investigative skills of law enforcement so cases can be resolved more promptly.

The federation also wants the government to provide greater support to people victimized by crime, including compensation and providing more information related to investigations.

The lawyers said it is too soon to change the statutes, because the effects from the revisions 5 years ago have yet to be assessed.

Experts also say law enforcement personnel, finances and other resources are limited, making it hard to justify open-ended investigations in the event there are no time limits.

The group Higaisha to Shihou wo Kangaerukai, made up of families of crime victims, said not all relatives share the same view, and some want to move on with their lives if investigations drag on for years without resolution. Some would be satisfied if authorities reported to them about the progress of their probes.

How about the statute system in other countries?

In the United States, for example, statutes may vary from state to state, but when it comes to murder, there is no statute, as well as in cases of federal capital offenses punishable by death, certain sex offenses and terrorism.

For many other federal-level crimes, prosecution must generally begin within 5 years from their commission. Exceptions to this include 10 years in cases of arson and 20 years for thefts of artworks.

As part of the European Union, where there is no death penalty, Germany, for example, has a 30-year statute on crimes punishable by life in prison, a 20-year statute for offenses warranting sentences of at least 10 years and a 10-year statute for crimes that merit at least a 5-year stretch.

Source: The Japan Times, March 30, 2010

Comments

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

'No Warning': The Death Penalty In Japan

Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite criticism over how it is carried out. Tokyo: Capital punishment in Japan is under scrutiny again after the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada, was awarded $1.4 million in compensation this week following his acquittal last year in a retrial. Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite international criticism over how it is carried out.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog