Japanese court acquits a man in a 1966 murder retrial after decades on death row
NPR Online NewsOCT 2024
A man endured wrongful imprisonment and severe physical and mental trauma for almost half a century for a crime he didn't commit. Though this verdict recognizes Hakamada's innocence and gives him his freedom back, it also reminds us of the irreversible harm caused by the cruelty of capital punishment. Japan must take steps to abolish the death penalty and lower hurdles for retrials to prevent this tragedy from happening again.
Justice delayed is justice denied criminal justice system. People are forced to confess under duress through long periods of police detention and violent interrogation — by prosecutors who seek to convict suspects via threats, manipulation, and fake forensic evidence to avoid hurting their career statistics. Japan's legal system — which allows inhumane treatment of detainees and has a low threshold for admitting retrials — is in dire need of reform.
Japan has retained the death penalty as punishment for atrocious, extremely serious, and tragic crimes to bring justice to the bereaved families of victims and deter homicides. Criminals don't deserve a second chance because once they are out of jail, they will commit the same heinous crime again. Moreover, Japan hasn't executed anyone since July 2022, which shows that the death penalty is exercised only in the rarest of rare cases.
Justice delayed is justice denied. While there may be arguments for and against the death penalty, the fact that Hakamada has walked free after fighting a court battle for four decades shows that the real culprit is still at large. The establishment spent considerable time, energy, and money to prove Hakamada guilty. If he is innocent, who killed his boss and his family? This case must be reopened to bring justice to the deceased.
There's a 50% chance that in at least 38.7% of US states capital punishment will be legal in 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.