In a review of the book “Shikei de Ii desu” (“The Death Sentence Is OK With Me”) that appears in the Feb. 26 issue of Kinyobi, critic Tatsunori Yagashiwa asks if a society that “disregards illness” can properly judge criminal suspects.
The book, written by Kyodo News reporter Takashi Iketani, chronicles the case of Yukio Yamaji, who was executed last July at the age of 25 for the rape and murder of a 27-year-old woman and her 19-year-old sister in 2005. In 2000, Yamaji killed his own mother, but because he was a minor, he was sent to a juvenile rehabilitation facility.
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