The death penalty in Japan and the abolition debate. Volume LXIX Number III.

It is the intention of this article: to outline the circumstances in which the death sentence is available and the frequency (or infrequency) with which it is passed; to describe conditions faced by prisoners condemned to death; to give an account of the secrecy, highly unusual in inter-national terms, which surrounds executions in Japan; and to display the views of those participating in the debate about whether capital punishment should be abolished.