Kyozo Isohi, who was arrested after stabbing two passersby to death on a busy Osaka street June 10, reportedly told police his actions were intended to incur the death penalty as he couldn't bring himself to commit suicide.
"I was at a loss over how to make a living, so I decided to kill myself," police quoted Isohi, 36, as saying. "I just couldn't go through with it, though, so I thought that if I killed some people, I would be sentenced to death."
As he had only been released from prison the previous month after serving time for a narcotics felony, Isohi's case suggests authorities should start focusing on how to reduce recidivism among convicts who are freed unconditionally and not helped to reintegrate into society — unlike those released on parole.