In a survey carried out by the Cabinet Office last December, 81 percent of respondents said they supported the death penalty, with 53 percent saying they believe serious crimes would increase without it. The Justice Ministry has repeatedly pointed to public support for capital punishment as a main reason Japan maintains it as a punitive option. The human rights group Amnesty International claims there is no proof that it is a deterrent to crime, and that the latest figures merely reflect Japanese people's anxieties over the perceived breakdown of public order.
But there's another reason why the death penalty is popular: It's uncomplicated. Most people have a Manichaean conception of justice -- criminals are evil, victims deserve redress in kind. Fifty-five percent of the respondents said that perpetrators of heinous crimes should pay with their lives, but it should be noted that most Japanese people do not believe they are qualified to make such judgments themselves.
That may change before the end of the decade. Japan intends to implement a lay judge system, in which certain criminal trials will be judged by teams made up of three professional judges and six citizens randomly selected from voter registration rolls. At present, only professional judges try cases.