The Death Penalty: Right or Wrong?

Sagano Senior High School Masatoshi INOUE

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba infuriated capital punishment opponents on July 28th by ordering the executions of two convicted murderers and becoming the first justice minister to witness a death penalty being carried out. This was in an article of Asahi Weekly on July 29th. How much do you know about the death penalty system? I oppose this system. How about you? Do you agree with this system? According to a poll by the Japanese government in February, about 86 percent of Japanese people think the death penalty system is unavoidable. Many people think murderers must make up for it with their own lives. But I want you to think about this again. Do murderers have to make up for it with their own lives? Certainly, it is natural to have such a feeling. However, in the background, there are problems in the way the Japanese mass media report it. They are not fair between assailants and victims. They often broadcast, leaning to the victims side. Of course, its very bad to kill a person, but we are influenced by the mass media to think that the death penalty is the best for murderers and the worst crimes. So, the result of the poll shows that many people agree with the death penalty system. We must know about each crime and the system of the death penalty, and judge the essence of this system by ourselves. Secondly, I want you to think of what is the most dangerous point of the death penalty system. It is a false charge. If we understood that a persons conviction is false after his penalty has been executed, that is a big, big fatal blunder. We cant do anything. In the world, false charges have happened in some countries, such as America and the U.K. We must abolish the death penalty system to prevent false charges. The United Kingdom abolished this system because of the fear of miscarriage of justice. Certainly, people who agree with the system should understand the fear and how dangerous it is. That is why we must think of

which is better, to continue a system with concern or to abolish that system to prevent false charges. From a different perspective, the death penalty system has another bad problem. It is the issue of economy. Reported in the Asahi Shinbun, in New Jersey, the United States, the death penalty system was abolished due to its high cost in 2007. The main reason is because of long-term costs of the trial lawyers elected by the state, and people condemned the state for spending a bunch of money for that. Christopher Bateman, a New Jersey senator, when talking about why the abolished it said We didnt judge it only by the cost, but it made our persuasion easier to have this convincing reason. If the death penalty system is abolished, the state can save about 146 million a year because it would be unnecessary for lawyers to defend the murderers for lengthy trials and appeals. In the world, in 2006, only 25 countries administered the death penalty. Amnesty International and the United Nations asked the Japanese government for the abolishment of the death penalty. More than 100 countries adopted the suspension of execution in the United Nations. Robert Bandinter, a former French Minister of Justice, said Will anything change if we put the murderers to death? Will the victims get their lives back? Life can not be compensated for anything. I think so, too. We understand that we mustnt kill a person. So, is it right that a nation kills a person? I oppose the death penalty system. How about you?