Death Penalty on Arsonist

Kyoto District Court sentenced Shinji Aoba, indicted with crime of mass murder and arson, a death penalty in its trial participated by citizen judges. The court recognized full responsibility of Aoba on setting the building of Kyoto Animation, or Kyoani, on fire and killed thirty-six people in 2019. While the defendant argued mental incompetence at the time, the court dismissed it. It is not clear whether the decision will work as a deterrence against crimes targeting innocent citizens.

With sentiment of being stolen his idea in the works of Kyoani, Aoba splashed gasoline on the floor of ground level of the three-story building. The staffs of Kyoani could not escape from the fire and the most of dead people were found around exit to the roof top on the third floor, which they were supposed not to be able to open. Aoba also suffered from heavy burn.

 

The court determined the incident made by Aoba unreasonable and selfish, ignoring value of human lives, and the defendant would be worth being accused. The court recognized firm intention of killing the people working for Kyoani with deliberated plan. It also accused the defendant of his cruelty on setting fire to the staffs, using gasoline which was apparently causing fast spread in the building.

 

The defendant argued that he was in delusion lacking capability of making right decision. The court found that Aoba could be suffering from delusive disease and had tendency of easily being skeptical, aggressive and angry to others. Even how he was isolated and had an idea that Kyoani had stolen the idea of his novel, however, the court realized that those delusions did not affect the intensity of his aggression to Kyoani and choice of arson and murder.

 

The defendant acknowledged that arson was wrong and took some behaviors of hesitating the aggression for eight months. The court realized that Aoba was fully responsible for his crime and his capability to distinguish right from wrong was not diminished at the time he made the assault on Kyoani. While the lawyer of Aoba argued that death penalty with hanging would be a cruel punishment the Constitution of Japan forbids, the court dismissed it quoting past decisions of Supreme Court.

 

The victims’ families participated in the trial. According to a report of Asahi Shimbun, Aoba apologized to them when he was told their hardship of losing loved ones. Citizen judges joined this important decision with instructions of the professional judges. With careful deliberation, the death penalty was handed down to the defendant.

 

One of the hopes the victims’ families had was that death penalty will have a power to deter next crime. However, Aoba had a sympathy for the offender of indiscriminate murder in Akihabara in 2008, and it affected his decision of the mass murder against Kyoani. It is important for this law enforcement not to cause any sympathy for Aoba on the consequence of the trial.