Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Crime & Justice, Headlines, Human Rights

DEATH PENALTY-JAPAN: No &#39Conveyor Belt&#39 Executions – Abolitionists

Catherine Makino

TOKYO, Mar 11 2008 (IPS) - Abolitionist lawmakers in Japan are appealing to the international community to pressure their government to end the rising number of death sentences and hangings – alarmed at how support for their stand at home appears to be dwindling.

Lawmaker Nobuto Hosaka Credit:

Lawmaker Nobuto Hosaka Credit:

"We need the international community to draw attention to our country and wake up our citizens," Nobuto Hosaka, a member of the lower house of parliament (Diet), said. "Japanese need to be made aware their country is disregarding human rights."

Hosaka added: "Death sentences have rapidly increased in the past two years." Executions were also up. Last December, one of the three hanged was 75 years old.

"My country is drifting and I am ashamed," a visibly upset Hosaka told IPS.

In 2007, the Japanese Supreme Court confirmed at least 23 death sentences, the highest number since 1962, according to Amnesty International. At the end of 2007, there were at least 106 inmates on the death row, the highest number since 1980. Nine executions were carried out during 2007, more than in any year since 1980.

Hosaka said Japan was unmoved by condemnations from Amnesty International and the Council of Europe. The passing of the non-binding United Nations General Assembly moratorium on executions on Dec. 18 apparently had little effect.


In an effort to stop the hangings, Hosaka, together with a cross-party group of MPs from the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, had drafted a bill for a temporary moratorium.

The bill proposed an initial four-year-long moratorium as a step towards the total abolition of the death penalty, Hosaka said.

It projected an entirely new punishment sentence for the most serious crimes in Japan, life imprisonment without parole, Hosaka said. Under the present system, those sentenced to life imprisonment became eligible for parole after 10 years.

The draft bill also called for the setting up of special parliamentary committees in both the lower and upper houses of parliament to investigate the operation of the capital punishment system in Japan.

Hosaka acknowledged that the chances of the bill succeeding were extremely slim.

"Two years ago we had 120 anti-death penalty lawmakers on our side, today it has shrunk to 72," Hosaka said. "In parliament the death penalty is something of a taboo subject. Lawmakers know that they will be unpopular if they support abolition and could even end up losing their seats."

He added: "Nor do we have public support. The public need to open their eyes, but there is no discussion about the death penalty here in the media."

Amnesty International Japan has confirmed steadily increasing support for the death penalty, opposite to the trend in many other countries. In the most recent survey of public opinion, more than 80 percent of respondents were in favour of keeping the death penalty in Japan.

Hosaka singled out one man by name for the growing number of recent executions – justice minister Kunio Hatoyama, a staunch capital punishment supporter. "He has declared executions should be carried out systematically. Hatoyama views executions should be carried out like on a conveyor belt," he said.

Hatoyama, appointed justice minister last September, has so far signed six execution orders.

But there has been one positive reform during his term of office. Names of those six executed were made public – a break with the past Japanese tradition of secrecy. But activists are concerned that Hatoyama is reportedly considering halting the introduction of a jury system for serious crime cases.

This is scheduled to go into operation in spring 2009. The plan is for six citizens to sit with three professional judges.

Hatoyama, whose term of office has been marked by a firestorm of criticism over his remarks on carrying out executions "systematically", was preceded by Jinen Nagase who was more cautious in his statements during his 11 months in office while quietly signing 10 execution orders.

"The Japanese are among the most gentle-natured people," Nagase wrote in a column in the Asahi Shimbun last December. "We share a culture to protect society by respecting others. Some people claim the Japanese lack an awareness to protect human rights and are cruel, but I strongly object to such views.

"It is one matter, of course, that mistakes should never be allowed in trying criminal cases. However, these issues are different from abolition or maintenance of the death penalty."

Such views are common in Japan, Andrew Horvat, visiting professor at Tokyo Keizai University and former president of the Asia Foundation, told IPS.

"Most families of victims demand ‘justice’. One often hears bereaved fathers and mothers express anger with judges for failing to send to the gallows those who murdered their sons or daughters. The idea that the system makes mistakes, and therefore innocent people may be hanged by mistake, has also failed to win over a majority of Japanese," Horvat said.

The Japanese also closed their minds to the possibility that serious offenders could ever improve, according to Noguchi Yoshikuni, a former prison guard turned lawyer currently campaigning for more public access to prisons.

"People are capable of changing and can reform, especially those who were raised without affection," Yoshikuni told IPS. "I’ve seen it. If you talk to these prisoners and touch them, you will find they are not as bad as people think they are."

Yoshikuni added that the public failed to read from the official crime statistics that the death penalty was not an effective deterrent to the most serious of offences. "The public’s belief that hanging people will lower crime is false," he declared.

Japan, a country of 127 million people, had a relatively low homicide rate compared to some countries with an active death penalty system. In 2005, there were 1,391 homicides. The U.S. murder rate was nearly five times this figure, human rights activists point out.

Hosaka said he expected the moratorium bill to be tabled in the current parliamentary session, although this was still under discussion.

 
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