Japan | Death Penalty Remains, but Trial System Must Improve: Survey

Among the Japanese, public support for the death penalty remains rock solid. More than 80% of respondents have expressed approval for it.

The Cabinet Office has released the results of a public opinion survey on the death penalty. Of the respondents, 83.1% said that having the death penalty is "unavoidable," while 16.5% said that it should be abolished.

The Cabinet Office cautioned that simple comparisons cannot be made because the survey method has changed from in-person interviews to questionnaires sent by mail. Nonetheless, the new survey showed that support for the death penalty increased by 2.3% since the previous opinion poll in 2020.

Public opinion polling concerning the death penalty began in 1956. However, the trend of those in favor of keeping the death penalty has consistently far exceeded those calling for its abolition.

How the Survey Works

The survey has been conducted every five years since 1989, and this was the fifth consecutive time that more than 80% of respondents have expressed approval for capital punishment. It is fair to say that public support for the death penalty remains rock solid.

Multiple answers were allowed to questions. Nevertheless, the most common reason given for approving the death penalty was, "Abolishing the death penalty would not accord with the feelings of the victims and their families" (62.2%).

That was followed by "someone who commits a heinous crime should pay for it with his life" (55.5%) and "abolishing it would lead to an increase in heinous crimes" (53.4%).

When asked whether they would favor abolishing the death penalty if there was the option of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, only 37.5% said it should be abolished, while 61.8% said it would be better not to abolish it.

Flaws in the Death Penalty System

Proponents of abolition, such as the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, claim that "the abolition of the death penalty is the trend in the international community." They often add that "the system has multiple fatal problems."

How a person regards punishment for crimes is deeply related to that person's views on morality, life and death, religion, and the nation. The Japanese people cannot be expected to always be in lockstep with what people in other countries are doing.

Nevertheless, the number of people who said "it should be abolished" increased by 7.5%, while neutral responses about the death penalty dropped from the previous poll. This change might reflect the reaction to the acquittal on retrial of Iwao Hakamada, who had spent decades on death row after being convicted in 1968 for the murder of a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The Hakamada case has brought to light flaws in the current retrial system, such as how the prosecution discloses evidence. This is important as the death penalty is the ultimate punishment for a crime. Although the death penalty option should continue to exist, strict standards of criminal justice should apply. That requires improving the weak provisions regarding the reexamination of old cases.

Abhorrence of Serious Crimes

There are serious crimes in this world that can only be addressed and deterred with severe punishment. One example is the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack of March 1995 that killed 13 people and severely injured 50. Another is the serial murder of eight women and one man in Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture in 2017. Then, in 2019, 36 people were killed and another 34 injured in the Kyoto Animation arson and murder case.

Japan is a country governed by law and its criminal justice system includes the death penalty. Even in lay judge trials, the death penalty has been handed down in cases that deserve the most severe form of punishment. Maintaining the death penalty also demonstrates the strong determination of the nation of Japan, its society, and its people not to tolerate inhuman crimes.

Source: The Sankei Shimbun, Editorial board, March 21, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Texas: The inmates who refused to die quietly and had to be gassed out of their cells before execution

Former crime reporter Michelle Lyons, who witnessed nearly 300 executions in Texas, US, reveals the desperate acts of death row prisoners who refused to accept their fate After spending years or often decades locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day, most Death Row inmates go willingly to their executions. However, some refuse to die quietly - with officers forced to gas them out of cells, strap up their heads and even give chase across prison grounds. Michelle Lyons, who has witnessed nearly 300 executions in Texas, US, exclusively tells Sun Online how certain inmates "fight like hell" in their last moments. On most occasions, Michelle watched from the witness area, with the killers already on the gurney - the stretcher where they'd be given a lethal injection. Seven prisoners once tried to escape from the Row in Huntsville - with one shoving magazines and newspapers under his clothes to help him roll over razor-wire fences. Others have had to b...

Japan: Capital punishment for a minor

Death chamber at Tokyo Detention Center The Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the death sentence given in a lay judge trial to a 24-year-old man for murders he committed when he was a minor raises questions about the lay judge trial system and capital punishment. These include whether the lay judges correctly understood the spirit of the Juvenile Law in sentencing the defendant to death. It was the 1st death sentence handed down on a minor in a lay judge trial. The murders took place in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in 2010 when Yutaro Chiba was 18 - meaning he fell under the purview of the Juvenile Law. Chiba was convicted of entering his ex-girlfriend's house and stabbing to death the girl's sister and a female friend of the girl with a butcher knife, seriously injuring a male friend of the sister and abducting the girl. Prosecutors said Chiba killed the victims because they were trying to separate him and his former girlfriend. Since Chiba pleaded n...

Idaho | Death row prisoners sue over state's new firing squad

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – Days after Idaho made the switch to a firing squad for executions, two Idaho death row prisoners next in line to be put to death sued the state prison system, saying its director withheld information about how she settled on the specifics for carrying out the method. Attorneys for prisoners Thomas Creech and Gerald Pizzuto filed suit this week in state district court against Idaho Department of Correction Director Bree Derrick. In the filing, they called her approval of an updated standard operating procedure for the firing squad and lethal injection as a backup method “arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion and in excess of the statutory authority of the agency.”

Saudi Arabia: Man beheaded for murder

April 27, 2010: Saudi authorities executed a man by beheading after he was sentenced to death for murder, the interior ministry announced. Saudi national Umair al-Shihri was put to death in the southern city of Bisha for shooting to death another Saudi, Muzakkir al Shahrani, with a machine gun, according to the announcement carried by the state news agency SPA. No details were given about the date or location of the crime, but the ministry said the execution had been put on hold until the victim's children came of age. Source: Agence France Presse, April 27, 2010

Oldest inmate set to be executed in Florida will face strict spending limit for final meal

An entire category of food is also off-limits for final meal requests in Florida Florida is currently preparing to execute its oldest inmate later today (July 14), a 74-year-old convicted murderer who has been on death row since the 1980s—but his final meal will be limited by a strict budget. Dennis Sochor is scheduled to be put to death later today, making history as the oldest inmate to ever be executed in the state. The criminal, who has been on death row for nearly 40 years, will be administered the lethal three-drug injection, with the process due to begin at around 6pm.

Former Florida cop to be executed on same day as 80-year-old Pasco man

In an unprecedented move in the modern history of capital punishment, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday cleared the way for 2 executions to occur on the same day. DeSantis reset the execution of James Duckett, whose execution earlier this year was stayed amid efforts to secure DNA testing and analysis of evidence in his case. Duckett’s execution was reset for July 28. That is the same day previously set for the execution of Dominick Occhicone. Court records indicate that Duckett’s execution is scheduled for noon. Occhicone’s is set to follow at 6 p.m.

Florida | Former prison warden who oversaw executions urges corrections workers to not participate in them

Recently Florida carried out the execution of Dusty Spencer , a 74-year-old Marine veteran, for the murder of his wife, Karen, in 1992. It was the ninth Florida execution this year. For their own sake, I urge Florida’s corrections workers to refuse to carry out another one. Before you dismiss me as some soft lefty, you should know that I am an Air Force veteran. I voted for Ron DeSantis for governor twice—and for Donald Trump for president three times.

Florida death row inmate wants DeSantis to attend his pending execution

Dennis Michael Sochor is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday, the 29th person executed by the state in the past 19 months. Dennis Michael Sochor, convicted of strangling an 18-year-old woman he met at a New Year’s celebration in a Broward County bar 44 years ago, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison. His last wish? To have Gov. Ron DeSantis personally observe his execution up close and personal.

Germany | Neuschwanstein killer contests extradition over death penalty fears

Three years after the rape and murder of a US tourist near Neuschwanstein Castle, the convicted man, also from the United States, is contesting his extradition from Germany. The 33-year-old pushed two young women down a slope of around 50 metres during a visit to the world-famous castle. A 21-year-old later died in hospital and her friend was injured. The man raped and strangled the 21-year-old before pushing her over the edge. Kempten Regional Court sentenced him to life in prison for murder, attempted murder and rape resulting in death. The foreigners' office in the area then issued a deportation order against the convicted murderer.

Florida executes Dennis Sochor

Man, 74, becomes oldest inmate executed in Florida in state’s 10th lethal injection this year Florida put to death one of its oldest prisoners in its history on Tuesday, a 74-year-old convicted murderer who was 1 of 3 older inmates scheduled for execution within the span of a month in the nation’s busiest death penalty state. Dennis Sochor was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said. He was convicted of killing a woman on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog