Argument over Announcing Execution on the Day

In Japan, a prisoner on death row will know exactly when he dies in the morning of execution day. Two prisoners with death penalty sued the government of Japan that the rule was too cruel. The court decided that the prisoners had no power to dispute current system. The lawsuit gave an opportunity to think twice about death penalty.

 

The plaintiffs cast a doubt on current rule for execution of death penalty, in which a prisoner on death row would be called by a prison guard in the morning and brought to the execution chamber to be hung. They thought that they would not be able to dispute the execution, while they had a right to do so.

 

“No person shall be deprived of life or liberty, nor shall any other criminal penalty be imposed, except according to procedure established by law,” says Article 31 of the Constitution of Japan. The plaintiffs argued that the announcement in the morning of execution day would violate the provision and that the rule would not comply with the International Covenants on Human Rights which prohibits cruel punishment, denying their obligation to obey the execution announced on the day.

 

Osaka District Court found that a prisoner whose death penalty had been a final court decision would not be entitled to know when death penalty is executed, dismissing argument of the plaintiffs. The court followed an example of civil lawsuit on the procedure of death penalty, which regarded the lawsuit as effectively demanding cancellation of death penalty.

 

There is no law in Japan on when the execution should be announced to the prisoner. The execution day had been announced on the day before or earlier until mid-1970s. the government revealed that it changed the rule after a prisoner on death row committed suicide who had been announced execution the day before. The court concluded that the rule had certain rationality in the perspective of keeping prisoner’s sentiment stable, smooth procedure of execution or maintaining order in the prison.

 

Lawyers of the plaintiffs are involved in other lawsuits to Osaka District Court on the procedure of death penalty, one of which argues that death penalty is prohibited by Article 36 of the Constitution that prohibits cruel punishment, raising examples in a foreign country which introduces less cruel procedure such as injection of drug.

 

Majority of countries have abolished death penalty. According to a report of Asahi Shimbun, it is only Japan, Republic of Korea and United States among the thirty-eight member countries of OECD which still possess death penalty. ROK has suspended execution of death penalty and over the half states in US have abolished or suspended it. In the poll in Japan in 2019, eight out of ten still recognized that they cannot help their government maintaining death penalty.

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