Crime
victim helps dialogue between perpetrators, victims
Takeshi
Kawamura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Masaharu Harada, 60, lost his younger brother to a crime,
but now he is using his experience to operate a citizens'
group, Ocean, which promotes dialogue between criminals and
victims.
Established in June, Ocean operates on the principle that
if crime victims or bereaved family members "talk with the
perpetrators face to face and know more of the truth about
what happened, they may be able to get beyond their
feelings of hatred," he said.
In January 1983, his younger brother, then 30 and a truck
driver, died. Initially his death was believed to be the
result of a traffic accident.
But 16 months later, it was discovered that his brother had
been murdered for his life insurance money. Among those
arrested for the crime were the president of the transport
company where his brother worked, and some criminal
associates who turned out to have killed two others besides
Harada's brother.
At the first-stage trial, Harada testified that he would
only accept capital punishment. But his feelings came to
change after reading letters from one of the defendants.
The man had accepted the prospect of execution when Harada
met him in a detention center 10 years after his brother's
death. Speaking through an acrylic barrier, the man
repeatedly apologized to Harada. After several meetings, he
told Harada, "Now I'm happy to die." Harada replied, "Don't
say that."
"Having a dialogue with victims can make perpetrators
deepen their sense of penance and help the victims to heal
their mental wounds," Harada said. But despite Harada's
newfound forgiveness, the man was executed in December
2001.
After the death of his brother, Harada became estranged
from his family and later suffered a brain-stem hemorrhage.
Today, he lives alone in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, where
he helps people to talk with crime perpetrators. Harada
also travels nationwide to deliver speeches on the subject.
"I lost everything, but I never gave up on life. To help
ease the unbearable suffering experienced by crime victims,
I want to win as many supporters to my cause as I can," he
said.
(Sep.
5, 2007)