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Abstract

Japan’s secretive system of capital punishment means that little is known about what happens when people are hanged. This article uses information from recently discovered records about 46 persons who were hanged during the postwar Occupation of Japan and from a murder trial in Osaka in 2011 to describe several aspects of Japan’s execution process – including how long hangings last. This new evidence suggests that in Japan as in the United States, it may well be impossible to carry out executions humanely. Future revelations about Japan’s execution process could weaken the legitimacy of capital punishment in that country, but they might also lead to efforts to ‘humanize’ hangings or change execution methods, with the ultimate effect of making the death penalty more resistant to repeal.

Keywords

capital punishment death penalty executions hanging Japan secrecy

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Hanging in Japan: What Occupation-era documents and a lay judge trial reveal about executions in the state that still kills in secret

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