Survey Finds Strong Public Support for Capital Punishment in Japan
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In a recent Cabinet Office opinion poll on the death penalty in Japan, 16.5% of respondents answered it should be abolished, while 83.1% said that it was unavoidable.
The opinion poll was conducted in the autumn of 2024, targeting 3,000 people aged 18 and over. The poll is held every five years, but this time it changed from interviews to mailed surveys. While this means it is not possible to make simple comparisons, the trend of more than 80% saying that the death penalty is unavoidable continued for the fifth successive poll. The government has held the position that as the majority of the public supports capital punishment for vicious and brutal crimes, it should therefore continue. However, there has been criticism that the choice given is not whether the system should be abolished or continue, but whether it should be abolished or is “unavoidable,” guiding respondents to support the status quo.
Among those who want to see the death penalty abolished (multiple answers possible), the most common reason, with 71.0%, was the possibility of wrongful sentencing. This is the highest percentage since the survey began in 1994, and seems to have been influenced by the high-profile case of Hakamata Iwao, who was acquitted in a September 2024 retrial after decades on death row.
On the other hand, the most common reason given by those who said that the death penalty was unavoidable was the need to consider the feelings of victims and their families, at 62.2%. This was followed by the sentiment that those who take life should pay with their lives, at 55.5%.
When asked if the death penalty should be kept or abolished in the case that a system of life sentencing without parole was introduced, 37.5% answered that it should be abolished, while 61.8% said it should not.
The survey was conducted by mail between October 24 and December 1, 2024, targeting 3,000 people in Japan aged 18 or over. There were 60.5% valid responses.
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)