The death penalty brutalizes everyone connected with it: Judges and juries who pass it down, politicians who turn an evil or a blind eye to it, jailers, executioners, and more than anyone, the person whose life is extinguished by it.
Although capital punishment has been abolished in 93 countries, among the leading democracies only Japan, the United States and Singapore retain it. Even Russia and Israel have banned such state killings.
There are currently 103 people on death row in Japan. Opposition to capital punishment has been meek in this country, but in recent years the movement toward at least a moratorium, if not a ban, has gained some momentum.