Japan MPs moot halt to executions (BBC) {Japan has a death penalty?}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Andre Vornic
BBC East Asia reporter

A cross-party group of Japanese legislators has said it has drafted a bill proposing a four-year moratorium on the death penalty.

The bill, a step towards abolition, will shortly be submitted to parliament and introduces life imprisonment without parole as a substitute.

Japan and the United States are the only industrial democracies to maintain capital punishment.

But the initiative is likely to meet stiff opposition.

Secret executions

Critics have long described Japan's use of the death penalty as unworthy of a liberal democracy.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7238098.stm

[hlthe2b]

1. They hang the condemned in secret....

What an exclusive club we belong to...:eyes:

[varkam]

2. I still don't get why people value the DP for "heinous crimes".

Nevermind that the DP has never been a deterrent for crime, but what purpose does it serve to execute someone for a terrible crime other than to sate our own bloodlust? :shrug:

It's good to see that Japan is moving in this direction, though. Pretty soon, the US will have the onerous distinction of being the only "liberal" democracy that still kills people in the name of justice.