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Thread: Japan Capital Punishment News

  1. #71
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    No. of Japan's death row inmates in 2016 at 129 by year-end

    TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The number of death row inmates in Japan in 2016 is expected to stand at 129 by Dec. 31, a rise of two people from last year, while continuing to surpass the threshold of 100 since 2007.

    Three inmates were executed during the year, while seven people were given the death penalty, the Ministry of Justice told Kyodo News on Thursday.

    Of the total figure, 128 people are officially registered as inmates at detention centers. Iwao Hakamada, 80, a former professional boxer convicted in the murder of four people in 1966, was released in 2014 after a court decided to open a retrial.

    Yasutoshi Kamata, 75, who was convicted of murdering a 9-year-old girl in Osaka and four women between 1985 and 1994, was put to death in March. Junko Yoshida, 56, a former nurse who masterminded two murders for insurance money in 1998 and 1999 in Fukuoka Prefecture, was also executed in March.

    In November, Kenichi Tajiri, 45, who killed two women in two murder-robbery cases in 2004 and 2011 in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, was hanged, according to the ministry.

    The seven people newly sentenced to death this year include 25-year-old Yutaro Chiba, who in July became the first to be given capital punishment under the lay judge trial system for a crime committed by a teenager. Chiba was convicted of murdering two women in 2010 when he was 18 years old.

    http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/...0m/0dm/067000c
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  2. #72
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    Death penalty sought for man charged with killing 5 on Awaji Island

    KOBE (Kyodo) -- Prosecutors on Friday demanded the death penalty for a 42-year-old man charged with killing five neighbors on Awaji Island in western Japan in 2015.

    Tatsuhiko Hirano was "mentally competent to be held responsible for his actions," the prosecutors said at the Kobe District Court, refuting claims by his lawyers, who in seeking an acquittal or a lesser punishment has said he was unable to make normal decisions because of a psychotropic drug he had been taking.

    Doctors who conducted psychiatric tests on Hirano have told the court that Hirano's personality was "the same as usual" at the time of the murders.

    Hirano is accused of fatally stabbing five neighbors with a knife in two separate homes in Sumoto, Hyogo Prefecture, on March 9, 2015. The victims were three women and two men aged between 59 and 84.

    He was committed to hospital in 2005 and 2010 after being judged by local authorities to be a danger to the public due to his mental illness.

    At the first hearing of his trial in February, Hirano said, "This is clearly a case of false accusation plotted by 'operatives' who destroyed my brain and forced me to commit the murders."

    On Friday, the prosecutors, in seeking capital punishment, said they have taken "extremely seriously the fact that he took the lives of five people who did nothing wrong."

    The prosecutors also highlighted the brutality of the case, pointing to the numerous stab wounds seen on the victims. The murder was committed "based on a strong intent to kill," they said.

    They also said the influence of the psychotropic drug the defendant had been using for a long time was "limited."

    http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/...0m/0dm/083000c
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #73
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Death row inmate convicted of 1993 murders dies in detention

    Gen Sekine, a former pet breeder on death row for killing four people in Saitama Prefecture in 1993, died Monday while in detention, a person familiar with his condition said.

    The 75-year-old inmate — who was convicted of conspiring with his former wife Hiroko Kazama to kill three people over a financial dispute stemming from his dog breeding business — is believed to have died of an illness, the source said.

    Kazama, 60, is also on death row.

    Sekine, who was also convicted of a separate killing the same year, died at the Tokyo Detention House on Monday morning. He had collapsed there in November, according to the source.

    In 1993, he murdered a 39-year-old company employee, a senior member of a crime syndicate and the man’s driver by making them swallow poison capsules. He then dismembered their bodies before incinerating and abandoning the remains, according to a court ruling.

    In the separate case, Sekine murdered a 54-year-old woman after selling dogs of foreign origin to her in a scam.

    Sekine and Kazama were initially arrested in January 1995. In March 2001, a district court in Saitama Prefecture sentenced them to death for committing, in the words of the presiding judge, “cruelly ruthless and extremely heinous crimes.”

    The Tokyo High Court rejected the pair’s appeal in July 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld the decision in June 2009.

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.WNlT_8spDqA
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  4. #74
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    Kanae Kijima A.K.A.: "The Konkatsu Killer"


    Death penalty upheld for 2009 triple boyfriend killer

    The Japan Times

    The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence of a 42-year-old woman convicted of killing three men she met through an online dating service in the Tokyo area in 2009.

    Although Kanae Kijima had pleaded not guilty, the top court ruled she killed all three men — Takao Terada, 53, Kenzo Ando, 80, and Yoshiyuki Oide, 41 — between January and August of 2009.

    Based mainly on circumstantial evidence, the lower courts determined that Kijima — who has changed her surname to Doi while on death row — committed the crime and rejected defense counsel’s argument that the victims could have committed suicide or died by accident. The cause of death in each case was carbon monoxide poisoning.

    Kijima met each of the three men online, maintaining relationships with and receiving gifts from each before they died.

    In March 2012, the Saitama District Court found her guilty of murder and handed her the death sentence as sought by the prosecution. The ruling declared that she bought coal briquettes and sleeping pills, prepared stoves and then stayed with each of the drugged victims until the moment before death.

    In March 2014, the Tokyo High Court upheld the death sentence, saying she committed the crimes to maintain a luxurious lifestyle.

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.WPC05H1tmUk
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #75
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Death-row inmate convicted of 1970s leftist serial bombings dies in prison

    A 68-year-old death-row inmate convicted of serial bombings at companies in 1974 and 1975 has died of multiple myeloma at the Tokyo detention house, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday.

    Masashi Daidoji, a member of the extremist Higashi Ajia Hannichi Buso Sensen (East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front), was convicted of bombings that included the August 1974 attack on the headquarters building of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Tokyo. That attack left eight people dead.

    Daidoji was among a number of leftist militants arrested in 1975 on charges of conducting a bombing campaign against Japanese companies to condemn Japan’s military and commercial advance in East Asia before and after World War II.

    Although the Supreme Court sentenced him to death in 1987, he had appealed multiple times for a retrial, arguing that a new examination of the bombs used in the Mitsubishi Heavy attack had shown he had no intention of killing the victims.

    The extremist group also targeted the headquarters of trading house Mitsui & Co., construction firm Taisei Corp. and synthetic fibers maker Teijin Ltd.

    In connection with the serial bombings, nine people were arrested and one committed suicide. Six, including Daidoji, were convicted.

    Some of the arrested were released as extrajudicial measures taken after the Japanese Red Army hostage crisis in Kuala Lumpur in 1975 and the hijacking of a Japan Airlines jetliner in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka in 1977.

    Daidoji along with Toshiaki Masunaga, also sentenced to death for the 1974 bombing, had sought compensation from the state, claiming in 2004 that the Tokyo detention house did not allow supporters to provide the two with letters, cash and other materials.

    The practice was later corrected and a district court ordered the state in 2008 to offer a symbolic payment to the two of ¥10,000 each.

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.WSWIBsspDqA
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  6. #76
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Death penalty to stand for woman convicted of murdering 2 men

    TOKYO - The death sentence given to a woman convicted of murdering two men in the western Japan prefecture of Tottori in 2009 is set to be finalized after the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings Thursday.

    The top court said in its ruling that the defendant carried out the premeditated and "cruel crimes based on firm intentions to kill" and she bears "grave criminal responsibility."

    According to the lower court rulings, Miyuki Ueta, a 43-year-old former bar worker, drugged truck driver Kazumi Yabe, 47, and drowned him in the sea in April 2009 and she drugged and drowned in a river electronics store owner Hideki Maruyama, 57, in October of the same year.

    Ueta, who owed money to both victims, maintained her innocence and the verdicts were based mainly on circumstantial evidence, including that Ueta was the last person to meet with the men before they went missing and she obtained sleeping pills beforehand.

    https://japantoday.com/category/crim...urdering-2-men

  7. #77
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Death-row inmate jailed for killing four people in 2002 dies of illness

    A death-row inmate convicted of killing four people in 2002 has died of illness at a Tokyo detention center, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.

    Tetsuo Odajima, 74, was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Saturday after losing consciousness. He had suffered esophageal cancer and been treated at the detention facility, the ministry said.

    Odajima and an accomplice strangled the wife and daughter of Takaichi Mabuchi, who at the time was president of Mabuchi Motors, after breaking into their home in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in August 2002.

    After stealing hundreds of thousands of yen in cash and jewelry items, Odajima set fire to the house.

    Odajima and Katsumi Morita also killed a 71-year-old dentist in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, in September 2002, and the wife of a discount ticket shop operator in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, in November of that year in murder-robbery cases.

    According to the ministry, Odajima was diagnosed with esophageal cancer around January this year. As he refused medical treatment, he had been receiving nutritional support and administered pain relief medication.

    The Chiba District Court handed down the death penalty to Odajima in March 2007. Although he once appealed to a high court, he dropped the motion in November that year and the ruling was finalized.

    The district court also sentenced Morita to death in December 2006, and the decision was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in March 2008.

    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20.../#.Wb6cHhkpDqA
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  8. #78
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Prosecutors seek death penalty for Japan's 'black widow' for allegedly killing her husband and two partners

    Chisako Kakehi was reportedly romantically involved with a number of men, 10 of whom are known to have died.

    By Divya Kishore
    The International Business Times

    The death penalty has been sought for a 70-year-old Japanese woman, dubbed the "black widow". Besides being charged with the killing of her husband Isao Kakehi in 2013, Chisako Kakehi is also charged with the murders of two of her partners and the attempted murder of an acquaintance.

    All the crimes were committed between 2007 and 2013 by giving the victims – all elderly men – drinks laced with cyanide.

    Prosecutors made the request in their closing arguments at the Kyoto District Court on Tuesday (10 October) and described her crimes as "heinous and serious incidents that are rarely seen". They said that Chisako was "mentally fit" for the crimes that she executed and could be held responsible for them as they "were premeditated".

    Her "cognitive function has not significantly deteriorated as shown in her psychiatric evaluation," they added, as reported by The Japan Times.

    The woman's lawyer had earlier pleaded not guilty on her behalf. But Kakehi later admitted in court to poisoning and killing Isao. She had also explained her reasons behind the killing, saying, "I felt like (Isao) was discriminating against me (financially) in comparison to the last woman he was in a relationship with and I got angry."

    However, she has now denied the charges again and pleaded not guilty. Her defence argued that Kakehi cannot be held responsible or stand trial due to the onset of dementia.

    The defence will make its closing statements on Wednesday (11 October) and the court will subsequently hand out its ruling on 7 November.

    Chisako was arrested in November 2014 and indicted after her fourth partner and husband, Isao, died in December 2013, a month after they got married. She was later indicted in connection with the deaths of the two other men.

    It has been reported that Chisako, a native of Fukuoka Prefecture, was romantically involved with a number of men, 10 of whom are known to have died. She has an inheritance of approximately 1bn yen (£6.88m, $8.84m).

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/prosecutors...rtners-1642666

  9. #79
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    Japan's 'Black Widow' gets death sentence for killing lovers

    BBC News

    Chisako Kakehi is accused of using cyanide to kill her lovers and make millions from insurance payouts. Her lawyers plan to appeal the sentence.

    Prosecutors said she targeted wealthy men who were mostly elderly or sick.

    She became known in Japanese media as the Black Widow, after the female spider which kills its mates after sex.

    Kyoto District Court ruled that Chisako Kakehi used cyanide "with a murderous intention" in the four cases, and that she should be held responsible for the crimes even though she had been diagnosed with dementia.

    "The cases were well prepared in advance. They were cunning and malicious. I have no choice but to impose the ultimate penalty," Judge Ayako Nakagawa said.

    Kakehi, who was wearing a hearing aid and asked the judge to speak loudly during the proceedings, showed no emotion when the sentence was handed down.

    Ms Kakehi was accused of murdering her fourth husband, 75-year-old Isao Kakehi, on 28 December 2013, a month after they got married.

    She was also accused of killing two other boyfriends, aged between 70 and 80, and the attempted murder and robbery of another boyfriend - who later died of cancer - between 2007 and 2013.

    The trial heard that she had joined matchmaking services in which she had specifically requested to meet men who were rich and childless.

    She reportedly inherited around one billion yen ($8.8 million) in all, although she later lost some of it through the stock market.

    During the 135 day trial Kakehi appeared to admit killing Isao Kakehi, saying he had not treated her well financially, but later retracted it.

    Her lawyers said at the time that her testimony could not be trusted because of her dementia. They have appealed against the death sentence to a higher court, arguing that her dementia means she cannot be held criminally liable.

    The high profile case saw over 560 people queue to get into the Kyoto courtroom to witness the outcome of the marathon trial.

    It is the second-longest court case involving a jury since 2009, when Japan introduced a joint judge-jury system.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41898623
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #80
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Number of inmates awaiting death penalty in Japan at end of 2017 expected to be 123

    The Japan Times

    The number of death row inmates in Japan as of Dec. 31 is expected to stand at 123, having remained above 100 since 2007, Justice Ministry officials said Thursday.

    In 2017 four convicts on death row were executed and four others died of illness, while death sentences were finalized for two other people.

    Of the four who were executed, three had been awaiting news about their requests for retrials. Of the three, one was aged 19 at the time of the crime.

    The hangings of inmates seeking retrials were the first since December 1999, while that of an inmate who committed a crime as a minor was the first since August 1997. Both executions drew criticism from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and groups opposed to the death penalty.

    Capital punishment in Japan has drawn international criticism and the federation has called for its abolition by 2020, demanding the introduction of lifetime imprisonment instead.

    However, a majority of the Japanese public supports the death penalty. A 2014 government survey showed that 80.3 percent of Japanese people aged 20 or older favored capital punishment, down from a record 85.6 percent in the previous survey in 2009.

    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20.../#.WkXJDsty6cw

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