Why the Death Penalty in Japan Should Matter to a Regis University Student
Jaime Soto Ayala, Guest Writer from Global Human Rights Advocacy
Note: This article was written by a student of Dr. Meghan Cohen, in the class, Global Human Rights Advocacy. The Highlander is proud to serve as a platform for guest contributions and encourages collaboration between our community and our publication.
The death penalty is a very controversial topic around the world. As of recently, there has been a lot of debate and controversy in Japan. The debate and controversy of the death penalty in Japan skyrocketed after Iwao Hakamanda, a Japanese man who was on death row for over 45 years, had his case reopened and he was deemed innocent after all that time. This led to most lawyers in Japan being against the death penalty. According to the Associated Press, most Japanese lawyers were against the death penalty because “Japan has one of the world’s lowest murder rates, making the need for capital punishment unconvincing” and “the risk of wrongful convictions and the lack of evidence that the death penalty reduces crime.” Japanese lawyers are essentially explaining that there is no reason for the death penalty to be allowed in Japan. Japanese lawyers explain first the logical side to the debate that since Japan has low crime (and the lack of correlation between the death penalty and crime reduction), having the death penalty be allowed would make no sense. On the other hand, the Japanese lawyers also target emotion in their argument as they bring up cases of people who were on death row for many years only to turn out to be innocent in the end.
In juxtaposition, not all Japanese lawyers opposed the death penalty. According to the Associated Press, “Some lawyers favor keeping the capital punishment as a way to address the victims’ feelings.” Essentially, in those Japanese lawyers’ eyes, it is only just to keep the capital punishment (the death penalty in this case). While this may be a good point, the cons of keeping capital punishment outweigh the pros. Considering the percentage of wrongful convictions being too high (which will be addressed later), people around the world can’t take the too high of a chance of sending an innocent person on death row just to serve “justice.” Additionally, keeping capital punishment to address the victims’ feelings and their families’ feelings does not actually solve anything. Forgiveness will resolve the victim’s and the victim’s families’ feelings more than revenge could. Additionally, if the families or the victim would want the guilty person on death row to be served justice and if they want to get revenge, killing them wouldn’t be the best way to do that. Keeping them in prison for the rest of their lives would be a better path to revenge and justice as the guilty person would experience more pain and guilt (and would learn more) than just getting killed.
Now, why should the death penalty in Japan matter to a Regis University student? A Regis University student needs to understand that wrongful convictions are very possible and not that rare. In fact, according to PubMed Central (PMC), “Death sentences represent less than one-tenth of 1% of prison sentences in the United States (7), but they accounted for about 12% of known exonerations of innocent defendants from 1989 through early 2012 (2), a disproportion of more than 130 to 1.” The problems that surround the death penalty in Japan are also in the United States. There is too high of a probability of an innocent person being on death row. Understanding the severity of the issue or even just the presence of the issue in the United States is the first thing a Regis University student needs to do. Being informed is the first step to change. In fact, according to Sage Journals, their study showed that, “the groups provided with information on wrongful conviction rates were less likely to support the death penalty than those with no information; the higher the conviction rate, the lower was the support.” This tells us that people’s perceptions on capital punishment will get more negative the more they hear about wrongful conviction rates. Regis University students can notice this trend and use this as a way to put an end to capital punishment (the death penalty) in the United States.
Now, the problems with the death penalty, specifically the wrongful conviction rates can be applied outside of the death penalty debate. It is easy to be convinced of the wrong thing and Regis University students have to be careful with what they read and what they believe. Understanding the reality behind convictions for crimes will allow Regis University students to be more careful over other aspects that could and would impact their life.
With the growth of AI, Regis University students have to be even more careful with the information they trust as reality such as information that has to do with politics. AI could spread misinformation and even sometimes disinformation (depending on if AI is referencing incorrect information people put out on purpose) influencing people to vote a certain way. Taking into account the death penalty debate in Japan and the number of wrongful convictions for crimes (in general), Regis University students have to be careful over what they choose to believe and what information they pass on to other students in order to create a more peaceful, richer, and welcoming environment at Regis University that can also be applied outside of Regis University.