Why Japan retains the death penalty: Public support for executions is probably lower than polls suggest

Capital punishment is going out of style.

More than 70% of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. Among members of the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, America and Japan are the only ones that continue to execute criminals.

President Joe Biden has promised to end capital punishment at the federal level and imposed a moratorium in June last year (though most executions in America are carried out by states).

Japan is going in the opposite direction. It had not executed anyone since 2019, an apparent signal that the practice could be phased out. But in December 2021 Kishida Fumio, the new prime minister, approved the hanging of three death-row inmates.

Why does Japan still make use of the death penalty?

Japan’s leaders know that capital punishment marks their country as a global outlier.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has repeatedly criticised the practice. But Furukawa Yoshihisa, the current justice minister, has said that as long as “atrocious crimes” occur, the death penalty must be available. (The punishment can be handed down for multiple homicides or single murders deemed particularly heinous.)

Officials also argue that execution should be maintained as a unique cultural practice catering to “public sentiment”.

Politicians point to purported overwhelming public support as a justification: 80% of Japanese are in favour of the death penalty, according to government polls, and the figure has been persistently high for decades.

Source: The Economist, Staff, April 26, 2022

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