Japanese court acquits a man in a 1966 murder retrial after decades on death row
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Japan: Court Acquits Man Who Spent 46 Years on Death Row
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Above: Iwao Hakamada out with supporters in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, on Sept. 26, 2024. Image copyright: STR/Contributor/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images
The Facts
A Japanese court on Thursday acquitted Iwao Hakamada — an 88-year-old former professional boxer sentenced to death in 1968 for a 1966 quadruple murder and arson — after it acknowledged multiple fabrications of evidence.
Hakamada was convicted of murdering his company manager and three of his family members and setting fire to their home. He was released in 2014 pending retrial and served his sentence at home after a DNA test cast doubt on the reliability of his conviction.
The Spin
Narrative A
A man endured wrongful imprisonment and severe physical and mental trauma for almost half a century for a crime he didn't commit. Though this verdict recognizes Hakamada's innocence and gives him his freedom back, it also reminds us of the irreversible harm caused by the cruelty of capital punishment. Japan must take steps to abolish the death penalty and lower hurdles for retrials to prevent this tragedy from happening again.
Narrative B
Japan has retained the death penalty as punishment for atrocious, extremely serious, and tragic crimes to bring justice to the bereaved families of victims and deter homicides. This tool of criminal justice serves an important function as a deterrent in society. Moreover, Japan hasn't executed anyone since July 2022, which shows that the death penalty is exercised only in the rarest of rare cases.
Narrative C
Hakamada's case exposes the flaws in Japan's notoriously slow-paced criminal justice system. People are forced to confess under duress through long periods of police detention and violent interrogation — by prosecutors who seek to convict suspects via threats, manipulation, and fake forensic evidence to avoid hurting their career statistics. Japan's legal system — which allows inhumane treatment of detainees and has a low threshold for admitting retrials — is in dire need of reform.
Narrative D
Justice delayed is justice denied. While there may be arguments for and against the death penalty, the fact is the real culprit is still at large. The establishment spent considerable time, energy, and money to prove Hakamada guilty. If he's proven innocent and gets to walk free after fighting a court battle for four decades, who killed his boss and his family? This case must be reopened to bring justice to the deceased.
