米紙ニューヨーク・タイムズ（電子版）は７日までに「袴田事件」の再審開始決定は「死刑廃止に向けた強力な論拠」だとして日本に死刑制度の「再考」を促す社説を掲載した。

　世界の３分の２以上の国が死刑を実質廃止していると指摘し「日本は国際潮流に反する立場を取っている」としている。

　米国は全５０州のうち３２州が死刑を存続させているが近年廃止州が増えており、死刑判決、執行とも減少傾向にある。社説は日本の有罪率が「ほぼ１００％」で、被告弁護側が有罪を不服として上訴しても「まず成功しない」と述べた。（共同）

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該当のニューヨーク・タイムズ紙・英文社説記事はこちら　⇒

The Opinion Pages　Editorial

Japan's Death Row

APRIL 6, 2014 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/opinion/japans-death-row.html?_r=0

The
world’s longest-serving death row inmate, Iwao Hakamada, was released
after 48 years in prison, when a judge last month found that “the
possibility of his innocence has become clear to a respectable degree.”
Mr. Hakamada’s case is another strong argument for the abolition of the
death penalty.

Mr.
Hakamada was sentenced to death for the 1966 murder of the manager of
the company where he worked, the manager’s wife and two children in
their house. Mr. Hakamada admitted guilt after a severe interrogation in
which he was beaten and deprived of sleep. But in court, he retracted
the confession. The prosecution introduced as evidence blood-stained
clothing, with the blood type matching that of Mr. Hakamada and the
victims. That and his confession proved decisive.

The
conviction rate in Japan is almost 100 percent, and most convictions
are based on confessions. The notion of false convictions is largely
rejected, and appeals based on prosecutorial error or misconduct are
rarely successful.

The
break in this case came recently when the obstinate defense team won
its argument that DNA testing, which the Japanese police began to use in
1989, should be done on the clothing. There was no match. The judge
suggested that the prosecution had fabricated evidence, and he ordered
the release of Mr. Hakamada, who is now 78 and senile.

There
have been death row inmates claiming their innocence to the end, but
only four death sentences have been overturned since 1945. There are now
about 130 inmates on death row. They have been incarcerated on average
for eight years and five months. Eight inmates were executed in 2013.
The process of deciding who is executed when is opaque; inmates find out
only on the day of execution.

Japan
stands against the international current. More than two-thirds of the
countries in the world have abolished the death sentence in law or
practice. In the last 20 years, the number of countries performing
executions dropped from 37 to 22. In Japan, where the notion of
presumption of innocence is weak, over 80 percent of the public still
approves of the death penalty. But this case should be reason for Japan
to reconsider capital punishment.