In executing three death-row inmates last week, the Justice Ministry made public their names, the crimes they were convicted of and the locations of the executions. This break with its secrecy policy has slightly improved transparency in the nation's capital punishment system. This trend should not be reversed.
Until 1998, the ministry kept mum about executions. Only that year, it started announcing the number of those hanged. Other information was withheld so as not to cause "emotional distress" to family members of those executed and to other death-row inmates. But because an error in capital punishment is irreparable, the public must be fully informed concerning any implementation of the death penalty.
The minimum that the justice minister, who signs approvals for executions, must do is explain how he or she has been convinced that death-row inmates have not been falsely accused and that mistrials are out of the question. The Justice Ministry strictly limits visits to, and communication with, death-row inmates. This only deepens suspicions about the ministry and deprives the public of the chance to observe and consider the issue of death as punishment. It also deepens the isolation of death-row inmates.
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