Japan: Hanging by a thread: Mental health and the death penalty in Japan : Summary

Japan: Hanging by a thread: Mental health and the death penalty in Japan : Summary

Index Number: ASA 22/006/2009
Date Published: 10 September 2009
Categories: Japan

Japan is one of only two industrialized countries that retains the death penalty and uses it. Its use is veiled in secrecy, with prisoners informed of their fate just moments before their execution and relatives are told only after the fact. Amongst those executed have been prisoners affected by serious mental illness. In this document Amnesty International calls on the Japanese authorities to introduce effective safeguards for prisoners sentenced to death, and to ensure that prisoners with mental illness are not executed.