Japan Goes Over 2 Years without Execution

Tokyo, Nov. 27 (Jiji Press)--More than two years have passed since Japan previously conducted an execution, as calls for the abolition of capital punishment in the country grow again, following the acquittal of former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata in a retrial.

At the end of October, there were a total of 107 inmates on death row in the country.

Under the country’s Penal Code, death sentences are carried out by hanging upon the order of the justice minister. The Code of Criminal Procedure states that the order should be issued within six months after the ruling is finalized, but this is interpreted as an advisory provision.

Between 2012 and 2021, the average period from the finalization of a death sentence to its execution was about seven years and nine months, according to the Justice Ministry.

The last execution in Japan took place in July 2022, when Tomohiro Kato, convicted of the 2008 random killings in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, was put to death. The justice minister at the time was Yoshihisa Furukawa. None of his successors have ordered an execution.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]