On a recent summer evening, tranquility reigned in this small neighborhood in Wakayama, where nothing but the occasional barking of dogs and chirring of grasshoppers broke the peaceful silence. This rural idyll, however, was somewhat marred by the eerie sight of an empty lot that ...
Expectations are growing that Pope Francis will meet with an 83-year-old man whose death sentence was recently suspended after a 48-year stint on death row, to send a clear signal about his opposition to capital punishment. It was reported in mid-September that the Vatican is ...
Japan's new Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai pledges reform with a focus on immigration
On Friday, newly appointed Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai promised to reform his ministry, including a pledge to more stringently enforce laws and regulations related to immigration. Kawai said the increase of the foreign worker quota under a new visa program that took effect in April ...
Pope may meet Japanese man seeking retrial over death sentence
Pope Francis may meet Iwao Hakamada, who is seeking a retrial for his conviction in a 1966 quadruple homicide, during his visit to Japan in late November.
White House to propose expedited death penalty for perpetrators of mass shootings
U.S. Attorney General William Barr has drafted legislation that would speed the death penalty for people who have committed mass murder, a White House official said on Monday. Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, told reporters on Air Force 2 that ...
Long after his hanging, teen quadruple-murderer continues to stir debate on death penalty in Japan
Half a century since his arrest in 1969, and 22 years since his execution, Norio Nagayama, a repentant random killer who became a prolific writer behind bars, is still provoking debate on the issues surrounding capital punishment, poverty and children's rights. The most concrete legacy ...
Hangings carried out for two Japanese death row inmates convicted of multiple rape-murders
The hangings of rapists and murderers Koichi Shoji and Yasunori Suzuki were Japan’s first executions of 2019.
U.S. move to resume death penalty bucks domestic and global trends, U.N. says
The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday the Trump administration's decision to reinstate the death penalty at the federal level goes against the domestic and international trend to abolish or halt executions. The U.S. Justice Department last Thursday reinstated a two-decade dormant ...
U.S. to resume federal executions after 16-year break, setting dates for five
The U.S. government will resume its use of capital punishment after a 16-year hiatus and has set execution dates for five convicted murderers, Attorney General Bill Barr announcedThursday. Acting on President Donald Trump's call for tougher penalties on violent crimes, Barr directed the Federal Bureau ...
One year after 13 Aum Shinrikyo executions, scant debate over the death penalty in Japan
One year after the founder and 12 former senior members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult were executed for crimes including the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system, the debate over the death penalty remains a muted affair in Japan despite ...
Former University of Illinois doctoral student guilty in slaying of visiting Chinese scholar
Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before returning a guilty verdict Monday at the federal death-penalty trial of a former University of Illinois doctoral student who killed a visiting scholar from China after abducting her at a bus stop. Brendt Christensen, 29, looked straight ahead ...
Human rights group locates hundreds of North Korean public execution sites
A human rights group said Tuesday it has identified hundreds of spots where witnesses claim North Korea carried out public executions and extrajudicial state killings as part of an arbitrary and aggressive use of the death penalty that is meant to intimidate its citizens. The ...
