Japan carries out first executions in a year

Today Japan hanged two people, in its first executions since the Democratic Party of Japan took power last September.

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, a former member of the Japan Parliamentary League against the Death Penalty, has asked for a review of the death penalty at the justice ministry. This would be a welcome move - regardless of the fact that the death penalty itself is regarded as a violation of human rights in Europe (as laid down by Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights), there are a number of additional concerns surrounding Japan’s policy of capital punishment; in particular, its use against juveniles and the mentally ill.

Moreover, the process of execution in Japan is swift and sudden, leaving very little time for legal interventions or for the condemned and their loved ones to even begin to come to terms with what is happening. Hangings are carried out without prior notification of family members or the public, and the prisoner is not usually informed until the morning of the day they will be executed.

One significant obstacle to reform is that government and media polls show around 80% public support for the death penalty; the number of executions has in fact risen enormously in recent years. However, after personally attending the executions this morning, the Justice Minister said that: "witnessing the enforcement with my own eyes made me think about death punishment deeply again". Hopefully her colleagues, and the Japanese public, will be willing to do the same.