Public Opinion Polls on the Death Penalty in Japan:A Long and Winding Road to the Abolition

• In Event: Emerging Issues in Sentencing Research

Abstract

In Japan, a survey on the death penalty was conducted every five years as part of the Cabinet Office's "Public Opinion Survey on Basic Legal Systems"; 2024 was the year of the survey. The results were published in February 2025. On the other hand, on September 26, 2024, a death row inmate was acquitted in a retrial of the HAKAMATA case. We expected that a soon-to-be-conducted poll would show a dramatic increase in the number of people in favor of abolishing the death penalty. However, the conclusion was not much different from the previous 2019 survey. I will identify the causes because there was no significant difference between the two polls and clarify the social implications behind the difference.
There are four ways to abolish the death penalty. First, the death penalty could be abolished by constitutional amendment, as in Germany. Second, republican countries such as France abolished the death penalty by winning the presidential elections. Third, as in the United States in the 1970s, the death penalty was abolished by a change in Supreme Court precedent.
The first is difficult in Japan because the Constitution cannot be amended at any time; the second is based on the premise of a republic, but Japan has a parliamentary cabinet system; and the third was possible in the U.S. because of the judiciary's positive attitude and cannot be expected from the Japanese Supreme Court. As a fourth option, The Government and Parliament work together to suspend executions, after which parliament changes the law, and then the death penalty system would be abolished.
In my opinion, we should follow the British way, investigating wrongful convictions, halting executions, gaining public understanding, and finally abolishing the death penalty. This is, however, a "long and winding road".

Author

• Shinichi Ishizuka, Professor