New justice minister calls for debate on death penalty

Thursday 17th September, 02:38 AM JST

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kyushujoe at 08:44 AM JST - 17th September

True. But it also avoids the expense of a re-trial should any awkward facts emerge (e.g. police brutality during interrogation) after the execution.
KallyPygous at 08:51 AM JST - 17th September

It can and is actively denied that the death penalty prevents crime. It isn't much of a deterrent in China, for example, where they execute thousands every year.
sakurasuki at 09:13 AM JST - 17th September

‘‘The death penalty involves a person’s life, and it is my duty to carefully consider every case

You don't have to consider every case let the system work, just fix the current justice system please, the J-cop and the prosecutors who watch them actually?
timorborder at 10:30 AM JST - 17th September

Whoops, the Ministry of Justice must be shaking in their boots. Not only is the new minister a anti-death penalty advocate, she is a trained lawyer as well!! They must be all scratching their heads at the prospect of having somebody who knows what they are talking about. A bureaucrats worse nightmare, a politician with an agenda.
bushlover at 10:35 AM JST - 17th September

I'd hate to see people like the Sarin gas attack and the curry poisoning get away with the murder they wrote.
bgaudry at 10:46 AM JST - 17th September

Murderers and rapists should be shipped off to an isolated island somewhere in order to create their own society based upon their own beliefs and desires. As we are not animals, we will provide them with the tools to start this society.
moonbeams at 10:51 AM JST - 17th September

^no.

Glad to see some sense in the government.
DenDon at 10:58 AM JST - 17th September

Murderers and rapists should be shipped off to an isolated island somewhere in order to create their own society based upon their own beliefs and desires. As we are not animals, we will provide them with the tools to start this society.

wouldn't work. Kurt Russel would ruin it all
fishy at 11:46 AM JST - 17th September

if death penalty prevents crime, why is it that there are people who chose to commit crimes in order for them to get killed without pain? i remember some cases where the killers said they wanted to die without pain so they killed others to get death penalty.. i am not all for death penalty but there are times when it should be "eye for an eye" to really prevent crimes and not just eliminating useless people.
dolphingirl at 01:58 PM JST - 17th September

kally: right! The death penalty does NOT prevent crime. Also she states that 'it forces offenders to take responsibility'...hmmm pretty hard to take responsibility when you are dead! A life sentence is probably a better option here.

The death penalty should definitely be abolished. Especially since, in Japan, it is carried it in such an inhumane way. ( I just read an article the other day on how people are offen on death row for decades and kept in solitary confinement ) Punishment--ok. Torture--not ok.
dolphingirl at 01:59 PM JST - 17th September

sorry: that's 'carried out'
betterdays at 02:58 PM JST - 17th September

Murderers and rapists should be shipped off to an isolated island somewhere in order to create their own society ....

When honest people are overcrowded here you feel these misfits should enjoy the peace of an isolated island
taj at 04:02 PM JST - 17th September

"cannot be denied that the death penalty prevents crime ..." As Kally wrote above, it is denied and the data (from countries / states where the the death penalty was abolished or reintroduced) backs up that denial. The Death Penalty does NOT prove a deterrent.

And also as noted above by fishy, in Japan, it has in at least a handful of cases, the death penalty has proven an incentive to mass murder.
Molenir at 03:09 AM JST - 18th September

the data (from countries / states where the the death penalty was abolished or reintroduced) backs up that denial. The Death Penalty does NOT prove a deterrent.

Perhaps it doesn't. However as others have said, it certainly prevents recidivism. Another way of looking at this, is that there are some crimes so heinous, that those who perpetrate them, cannot be tolerated among society, even a society of criminals such as a prison. Some crimes for which the ultimate punishment is required. When you look at societies like England, which has no Death Penalty, you realize, that if you're going to commit murder, you want it to be there.
bushlover at 10:56 AM JST - 18th September

[it has in at least a handful of cases, the death penalty has proven an incentive to mass murder.] --- Then their sentence would have to be carried out in a crusifiction style so as to deter them from wanting one.