Request to Achieve the Abolishment of the Death Penalty System Before the Next UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Due to be Held in Japan in 2020
November 29, 2017
Japan Federation of Bar Associations
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) prepared its “Request to Achieve the Abolishment of the Death Penalty System Before the Next UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Due to be Held in Japan in 2020”(the “Request”) and submitted it to Ms. Yoko Kamikawa, the Minister of Justice, on November 29, 2017.
Summary of the Request
In the Request, the JFBA set forth the following desired outcomes:
1. The Ministry of Justice should set up an advisory panel concerning the present issues on the abolishment of the death penalty system to look into: the abolishment of the death penalty system; the maximum sentence as an alternative to the death penalty (including a system of life in prison without parole); the parole and amnesty system; and the preferred ways to help victims of crime;
2. Based on the outcomes of the investigations and discussions set forth in the preceding item, the death penalty system should be abolished before the next UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice due to be held in Japan in 2020; and
3. A moratorium on all executions should be established until the death penalty system is abolished.
