Core summary:
1. The author believes that Yamagata Toru, the murderer of Shinzo Abe, will not be sentenced to death, and the final judgment of the Supreme Court of Japan is life imprisonment. If the defense's plea of "no criminal responsibility" is accepted by the Japanese Supreme Court, it is also possible for the Japanese Supreme Court to make an acquittal.
2. The death penalty in Japan can be divided into statutory death penalty and selective death penalty. The legal death penalty is only 1, that is, "colluding with foreign countries to exercise force against Japan". Intentional homicide belongs to the choice of death penalty, which can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of more than five years. Generally, only those who have committed more than two intentional killings will consider the death penalty. According to the process of Yamayama Takeshi's crime, the prosecution is likely to sue for intentional homicide and finally ask the court for the death penalty. But based on his capricious confession, lawyers may argue innocence or misdemeanor.
3. Another important factor is the precedent and the influence of the Japanese abolitionist movement. Based on the precedent of the previous assassinations of Democratic Party member Ishii Kei and Nagasaki Mayor Ichiro Ito, the defendants were both sentenced to life imprisonment. In recent years, the Japan Lawyers' Federation has initiated a great discussion on the abolition of the death penalty. Although the later legal provisions were not perfect, a considerable number of judges in Japanese courts supported the abolition of the death penalty. The assassination of Shinzo Abe may have brought the discussion of abolishing the death penalty in Japan to a crossroads.
On July 8, 2022, around 1 1: 30 in the morning, with the first dull gunshot, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was giving a speech for the alternate election of Nara local Senate, turned around and looked back. At this time, there was a second, more depressing shot. After Shinzo Abe stepped down, he never returned to the beautiful Japan he was determined to build when he spoke in Congress.
Since then, Japan has lost its former prime minister who set a record for the longest time in power. In this way, Japan was shocked by Abe's sudden death.
The death of Shinzo Abe will not only have an unpredictable impact on the current Japanese political arena, but also affect the future direction of Japan. Abe's sudden departure in this way hurt not only the Abe family, but also the younger generation in Japan.
The shooting of Shinzo Abe seems to have ended the myth that Japan is "the safest country in the world". People can't help asking, will the murderer who committed this shocking murder be sentenced to death in Japan?
I don't think the murderer of Shinzo Abe will be sentenced to death. This paper discusses why the murderer will not be sentenced to death through the analysis of Japanese criminal law system and related cases.
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Provisions of Japanese criminal law
The main punishment of Japanese criminal law includes three kinds of punishment. The first is life imprisonment, that is, the death penalty is imposed to deprive people of their lives; Second, freedom punishment, that is, imprisonment, fixed-term imprisonment and criminal detention deprive people of freedom of movement; The third is property punishment, fines and fines. The supplementary punishment is confiscation of property. Among them, the death penalty is divided into statutory death penalty and selective death penalty, that is, in the law, death penalty, life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment can be sentenced, which is called selective death penalty.
The legal death penalty in Japan is only 1, and those who collude with foreign countries to exercise force against Japan as stipulated in Article 8 1 of the Japanese Criminal Law are sentenced to death. In addition, article 199 of the Japanese criminal law stipulates that the crime of intentional homicide can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment, or fixed-term imprisonment of more than five years, which belongs to the category of choosing the death penalty. Article 199 of Japanese criminal law stipulates three legal bases for sentencing, namely, the first legal basis for sentencing is death penalty, the second legal basis for sentencing is life imprisonment, and the third legal basis for sentencing is fixed-term imprisonment of more than five years. Japan's criminal law provides for a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Shinya yamanaka was also arrested on the spot as a flagrante delicto. According to police information reported by Japanese media, shinya yamanaka also committed premeditated murder. He appeared at Abe's speech rally in Okayama the night before the intentional homicide in Nara, and then followed Abe to Nara. Judging from the pictures reported on TV, Nara's teaching place provided objective conditions for shinya yamanaka to kill people. For example, the street center of Shinzo Abe Station is easy to be attacked, the audience can walk back and forth at will, the passing vehicles are frequent, the on-site security personnel are not nervous, and the response is slow after the first shot.
In addition, judging from the self-made pistols held by Yamagata Takeshi and several self-made pistols found from Yamagata Takeshi's home afterwards, Yamagata Takeshi's plan to kill people was carefully planned and fully prepared. This constitutes the subjective motive of intentional homicide on the mountain. After being arrested, Yamauchi also confessed to intentional homicide.
Therefore, there is no doubt that the Japanese prosecutor will sue Tetsuya Yamayama for intentional homicide according to the first legal basis stipulated in Article 199 of the Japanese Criminal Law, and it is very likely that he will eventually ask the court for the death penalty.
Although shinya yamanaka was arrested as a flagrante delicto and admitted the fact of the murder, shinya yamanaka's capricious confession of the motive for the murder provided an objective reason for Japanese lawyers to plead not guilty, on the grounds that shinya yamanaka also suffered from some mental illness-he released mental stress by killing and did not bear criminal responsibility. The basic idea of Japanese lawyers defending criminal defendants is not to plead guilty. Therefore, I believe that although Japanese defense lawyers do not deny the prosecution's allegations, they advocate innocence defense and hand over the responsibility of conviction in Yamanaka to the judge.
As a step back strategy, shinya yamanaka's defense lawyers may also defend shinya yamanaka lightly. The fixed-term imprisonment of more than five years stipulated in Article 199 is the basis of secondary defense.
Japanese judges can make a life imprisonment sentence according to the second legal basis stipulated in 199 after trial procedures such as giving evidence, cross-examination, requesting punishment and defending in court.
After World War II, Japan gradually improved its new criminal legal system. Although the death penalty system has not been completely abolished, in recent years, the number of people sentenced to death and executed has been controlled to single digits. The basic idea of Japan being sentenced to death is that the death penalty will only be considered if there are more than two intentional homicides, and when the victim of intentional homicide is only 1 person, there are many precedents for sentencing the defendant to life imprisonment or 20 years' imprisonment according to the motive and reason of murder and the attitude of pleading guilty. For example, Chen Shifeng, the defendant in the case of Jiangge, a China student, was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.