Japan Panel Calls for Debate on Death Penalty

Tokyo, Nov. 14 (Jiji Press)--Japan should establish a forum to discuss the system of capital punishment, including its possible abolition, as the death penalty has many flaws, a panel including former law enforcement leaders has said.

The government should consider refraining from carrying out executions until a concrete conclusion on the matter is reached, the panel also said in a report released Wednesday.

The panel, chaired by Chuo University graduate school professor Makoto Ida, proposed creating platforms for discussions on the matter in the Diet, Japan's parliament, and in the cabinet.

"If executions are carried out based on erroneous trials, irreversible human rights violations occur," the report said. Abolishing capital punishment is the global trend, and continuing executions will damage Japan's image as a country that respects human rights, it added.

The panel also stated that the death penalty's crime deterrence effects have not been scientifically proven and that no explanations have been given as to why some death row inmates are not executed for a long time.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]