Culture of Capital Punishment in Japan

David T. Johnson is Professor of Sociology at The University of Hawaii at Mānoa, US.

“Based on his decades of study of the Japanese criminal justice system, David Johnson delivered another excellent work on Japan’s capital punishment. With 120 pages only, the book is well structured and easy to follow. One dominant feature of this work is its comparative approach, by contrasting the Japanese practice with that of the United States (US). … This book provides an excellent review of the Japanese capital punishment, in comparison to the US practice.” (Bin Liang, Asian Journal of Criminology, Vol. 18 (1), 2023)

• 1. Why Does Japan Retain Capital Punishment?.- 2.Is Death Different? Two Ways Law Can Fail.- 3. When the State Kills in Secret.- 4. Wrongful Convictions and the Culture of Denial in Japan.- 5. Capital Punishment and Lay Participation in Japan.- 6. The Death Penalty and Democracy.