Execution chamber at Tokyo Detention Center

JAPAN: LAWMAKER GROUP SEEKING END TO DEATH PENALTY TO RESUME ACTIVITIES

August 11, 2014: Japanese media reported that a Diet members’ group formed to end the death penalty was planning to resume operations as early as September 2014 after suspending its activities following the 2012 election.
The group headed by Shizuka Kamei, 77, an independent in the Lower House, wants to establish a new prison sentence – life without parole – to make taking capital punishment of the books easier.
Alarmed by the execution of nine inmates since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took power following the Lower House election in December 2012, Kamei, a former police officer who once headed the now-defunct Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party), and other group members have called on ruling and opposition lawmakers in both Diet houses to join the parliamentary body.
The group, established in 1994 had more than 100 members at one point, but its membership has declined to around 30 and the group has not held a full meeting since the 2012 general election.
The parliamentary group will aim to submit a bill to the Diet that initially calls for the establishment of life sentences without parole, suspends the execution of death-row inmates and only allows the death penalty to be handed down when all 3 professional judges and 6 citizen judges agree.  Kamei said the establishment of a life sentence without parole would lead to a decline in the number of people who support the death penalty and eventually see capital punishment phased out. (Sources: Japan Times, 11/08/2014)