The Death Penalty in Japan
• Inducement of Foreign Aggression (Penal Code Article 81) • Participation in Foreign Military Aggression Against Japan (Penal Code Article 82) • Arson of an Inhabited Structure (Penal Code Article 108) • Destruction by Explosives (Penal Code Article 117) • Damage to an Inhabited Structure by Trespass (Penal Code Article 119) • Illegal Use of Explosives (Explosives Control Act Article 1)
Moreover, the death penalty is mandatory for the crime of Inducement of Foreign Aggression (Penal Code Article 81).
Te death penalty has never actually been imposed for the crimes of Insurrection, Inducement of Foreign Aggression, or Participation in Foreign Military Aggression against Japan and, in practice, the death penalty would not be imposed for crimes that did not result in loss of life. Nonetheless, even though the United Nations Human Rights Committee has repeatedly recommended that Japan reduce the number of death-eligible crimes under Japanese law, Japan has not taken any measures to achieve such a reduction. Capital punishment for crimes that do not involve intentional killing fails to conform to the obligations under Article 6(2) of the ICCPR and to the first of the Safeguards, which restricts the death penalty to the ‘most serious crimes’.
Pardons and petitions of mercy Article 6(4) of the ICCPR states:
Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases.
Te seventh Safeguard reinforces this norm:
Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence; pardon or commutation of sentence may be granted in all cases of capital punishment.
Tus, international law provides for a ‘right’ to seek pardon or commutation of sentence, and in order for this to be meaningful, states are under an obligation to provide effective measures for the proper consideration of clemency in all cases. No person may be executed while a petition for mercy or pardon is pending. Tis principle derives from the eighth Safeguard, which states that: “Capital punishment shall not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure or other proceedings relating to pardon or commutation of the sentence”. Filing an appeal or a petition for mercy should always provide a basis to suspend execution.
In recent years, the right to seek clemency, amnesty or pardon has been carefully examined in the Caribbean context, both by domestic courts and by regional human rights tribunals.
Article 4(6) of the American Convention on Human Rights is stated in terms very similar to Article 6(4) of the ICCPR:
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