National / Crime & Legal Dec 27, 2018
by Magdalena Osumi
The executions were the first carried out since 13 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult were hanged in July.
National / Crime & Legal Jul 6, 2018
Japan and the United States are the only two members of the Group of Seven advanced economies that have the death penalty. Japanese death row inmates are executed by hanging. Three prison officers simultaneously press buttons to open the trap door so it is not ...
World / Crime & Legal Dec 27, 2017
India slams Pakistan's treatment of wife and mother of convicted spy on death row
India denounced Pakistan on Tuesday for its handling of the visit of the wife and mother of an Indian man on death row, saying they were harassed and prevented from talking to the prisoner freely. A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry did not respond to ...
National Jun 26, 2017
Triple murderer, 90, dies of suffocation as oldest prisoner on Japan's death row
A 90-year-old triple murderer, reportedly the oldest prisoner on death row, has choked to death on his own vomit at a prison in Fukuoka Prefecture, the government said Monday. Takeshige Hamada was convicted of killing three people in the prefecture for insurance money over a ...
National / Crime & Legal Apr 3, 2017
Miyazaki triple killer seeks retrial after victims' family has change of heart
A 29-year-old man on death row for the 2010 murder of his wife, baby and mother-in-law in Miyazaki Prefecture is seeking a retrial based on a plea for leniency from a member of the victims' family, his lawyer said Monday. The lawyer, Tomohiro Kurohara, said ...
National / Crime & Legal Dec 30, 2016
The number of death-row inmates in Japan in 2016 is expected to stand at 129 by Dec. 31, a rise of two people from last year, while continuing to surpass the threshold of 100 since 2007. Three inmates were executed during the year, while seven ...
National / Media | MEDIA MIX Jul 2, 2016
Japan dances with the death penalty
by Philip Brasor
Last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his plans to reinstate the death penalty, which was abolished in his country in 2006. Duterte says he believes in retribution: If you kill someone, you deserve to die. Some people are shocked by this rationale, but they ...
World / Crime & Legal Jun 10, 2016
U.S. top court sides with death-row inmate, hits prosecutor-turned-judge's potential bias
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a death-row inmate in a ruling warning of the hazards of judicial bias, slamming Pennsylvania's former chief justice for not stepping aside in a murder case in which he earlier had served as a prosecutor. The court's ...
National / Crime & Legal Mar 25, 2016
Japan sends two more inmates to the gallows
by Shusuke Murai
Two death row inmates were hanged Friday morning, according to the Justice Ministry, bringing to 16 the number of executions carried out under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration since taking power in 2012. The two prisoners were Yasutoshi Kamata, 75, and Junko Yoshida, 56. Yoshida ...
National / Crime & Legal Dec 18, 2015
Japan hangs two prisoners, including first convicted in lay judge trial
by Tomohiro Osaki
The executions cast a spotlight on the moral and emotional burden of nonprofessionals being asked to hand down death sentences.
National / Crime & Legal Nov 18, 2015
Survey offers insights into Japan's death-row inmates' thoughts, feelings and fears
by Keiji Hirano
For death-row inmates in Japan, contact with the outside world through visits and the exchange of letters makes life worth living, if only for another day, as they reflect on their crimes or pursue the possibility of retrials. As one might expect, a questionnaire survey ...
National / Social Issues | FOCUS Oct 5, 2015
Death of condemned inmate who died while claiming innocence raises questions over retrial system
Sunday's death of a death row inmate who had petitioned for decades for a retrial over his conviction in a 1961 murder case underscored the need to revamp the country's retrial system, according to lawyer Yuichi Kaido. "The case had a chance of a retrial ...