Michael H. Fox Director
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EXECUTION WATCH
Executions in 2008:
Total =10
June 17 = 3 hangings
April 10 = 4 hangings
February 1 = 3 hangings
Death Sentences 2008
Supreme Court 5
Finalized: 1 (Upon Abandonment of Appeal)
High Courts: 9
District Courts: 4
Number of Death Row Inmates 102
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Recent News
✽June 2008✽
Asahi hails Hatoyama as Minister of Death ( Read )
Asahi Shinbun criticizes Shiroh Sentence. "More politics than justice." ( Read )
Prime Minister affirms executions ( Read )
3 more hangings on June 17
✽April 2008✽
Japan Times Editorial Disturbing Death Penalty Trend
26 year old drops appeals ( Read )
Former Police Chief: "End the Death Penalty" (Read)
Bumbling Political Decision:
Renown Anti-death penalty attorney found guilty.
'NO SHRIEKING' Radio station to air '55 Osaka hanging
Mobster Sentenced for double killing (Read )
Hikari Verdict:Twice Sentenced to Life Imprisonment:
Minor given death penalty ( Read )
Amnesty Condemns Japan ( Read )
Second Batch of Executions: 4 More Hangings on April 10. ( Read )
Entire Family of Four now been sentenced by High Courts.( Read )
✽February 2008✽
Supreme Court sentences Former Aum Member Hayashi Yasuo to death. ( More )
Year's First Executions: 3 Hangings on February 1.
( More )
Death Demanded for Unrepentant 26 year old.
( More )
Mobster Sentenced for double killing
(More)
Supreme Court rejects former Antique dealer's appeal.(Read)
✽January 2008✽
Jan 25: Prosecution wants mentally ill mother to hang (Read)
Jan 21: Year's First Death Sentence ( Read )
✽December 2007✽
44 Death Sentences in 2007 is record high for Japan (Read)
Mother and Son have sentences confirmed on Xmas Day (Read)
Justice Minister Hatoyama urges continued use of the death penalty for Japan saying "the Western nations are civilizations based on power and war . . .and have a weaker conception of life than the Japanese." Read the article translated by Michael Fox.
United Nations General Assembly votes to abolish the death penalty ( More )
Former senior member of AUM cult asks top court to spare him death penalty ( More )
UN protests December 7 hangings.. (More)
3 death row inmates executed! Hatoyama makes good on his threat!
Names disclosed for first time; Amnesty protests [ More ]
✽November 2007✽
Hangman cheated twice in two days:
**Defendant Nakamura found NOT Guilty! ( Read )
**Kayoko Nakai senteced to Life Imprisonment ( Read )
Lawmakers inspect Execution Chamber ( Read )
Furusawa Sentence increases Death Row Inmates to 109 (Read)
Justice Minister meets opposition, views Iran execution. He remains intransigent, "I will execute solemnly." (Read)
Mabuchi Motor murderer drops appeal (Read)
✽October 2007✽
Justice Minister: Respect for life in the west is weak. The death penalty is necessary to sustain the respect for life in Japanese Civilization. (Read)
Death Penalty Finalized for Aum Cultist (Read)
Italian Activist Alberto Stucki continues to petition for "Life without parole." (Read)
150,000 sign petition seeking death for 3 killers acquainted via Internet (Read)
Hatoyama Flip Flops on Hangings.
Calls the noose "inhumane." (Read)
Japanese Sentenced to Death in China (Read)
China detains Japanese man over organ brokerage.
Profits from executions only for Chinese Hands. (Read)
Letter from Masumi Hayashi, defendant in the Wakayama Curry Case.
Follow up from August meeting at the Osaka Detention Center (Read)
Prosecutors again demand death penalty for juvenile who killed young mom, baby (Read)
Former Death Row Inmate Sakae Menda speaks at UN (Read)
Rally against the Death Penalty draws 200 (Read)
✽September 2007✽
Braser criticizes strident TV foibles regarding the Motomura Case (Read)
Justice Minister labeled "inhuman", refuses meeting with anti-death penalty parliamentarian. (Read).
Death Sentence Reduced for female defendant (Read)
Gutless Justice Minister-"please execute without my signature." (Read)
Family of Victims call for Dialogue (Read)
New Justice Minister "Execute Aptly." (Read)
August 2007
3 more death row inmates executed!
August 23, 2007
(Mainichi)
The executions bring the total number of convicts who have been hanged since Justice Minister Jinen Nagase assumed the post in September last year to 10. Death row convicts are executed on orders of the justice minister. ( Read )
USA: Worldwide Support Leads to Stay of Execution for Troy Davis ( Read)
Attorney and Death Penalty Opponent receiving threats regarding the Hikari Case ( Read)
Prosecutors seek death for elderly woman in Kobe Arson Murder Case.
Defendant Denies Charges ( Read )
Contradictions of Criminal Justice: Murder of Husbands(2!) draws Life Imprisonment. ( Read)
UN criticizes Japan's treatment of Death Row Convicts ( More )
Prison Reform Activist Attorney Yuichi Kaido criticizes
Japanese Detention Procedures on Australian Radio. ( More)
CLOSURE, NOT REVENGE
The Japan Times: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 ( Read )
PHOTO COURTESY OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL JAPAN
Chinese former student becomes 4th foreigner on death row. (June 20 ) (More)
Former Yakuza Nakahara Sentenced to Death ( More )
Aum Chemist Loses First Appeal ( More )
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List and Chart Update:
Who has been sentenced to death? Who has been executed? And trends of convictions and executions...
List A: Death Sentences Confirmed by the Supreme Court. (101)
List B: Death Sentence Convictions by High Courts. (43)
List C: Death Sentence Convictions by District Courts. (29)
List D: Pending Verdicts
List E: Recent Hangings 2006-2007. (7)
List F: Trends: Convictions and Executions (1989~2006)
List X: Exonerations (1984~present)
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Past News
3 EXECUTIONS CARRIED OUT -Friday April 27, 2007
Executed were (family name first) Tanaka Masahiro(Tokyo) Nata Kosaku(Osaka) Oda Yoshikatsu (Fukuoka)
These hangings come just 4 months after the 2006 Christmas executions.
Seven hangings have not occurred in such a short period since the death penalty was reinstated in 1993. [ More ]
Crime victim and life imprisonment activist Stucky Alberto faces setback [ More ]
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Interesting Japanfocus article about the Xmas hangings [ More ]
photo: activists outside the Osaka Detention Center
