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Is Japan's death penalty now about to be killed?

By Douglas A. Berman

When I teach the death penalty, I often urge student to note and reflect on the fact that Japan is like the US in being a modern industrialized democratic nation that has continued to use the death penalty.  But this new piece in The Times of UK, which is headlined "Japan?s death penalty effectively scrapped with arrival of Keiko Chiba," suggests I may soon have to update my teaching notes.  here is how the piece starts: Capital punishment has been unofficially scrapped in Japan with the appointment of a left-wing justice minister who is an outspoken opponent of the country?s controversial system of secret executions. Keiko Chiba, 61, a lawyer and former member of the Japan Socialist Party, has the final say in signing execution orders for the country?s 102 death-row inmates...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 19, 2009 (boomark / email).