An 88-year-old man who is the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been acquitted by a Japanese court, after it found that evidence used against him was fabricated.

Iwao Hakamada, who was on death row for almost half a century, was found guilty in 1968 of killing his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children.

He was recently granted a retrial amid suspicions that investigators may have planted evidence that led to his conviction for quadruple murder.

46 points

Shit, the guy lost 50 years?! Might as well just fucking end it for him since you stole his WHOLE FUCKING LIFE!

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35 points

He should get one free kill.

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23 points

With nobody to use it on. He likely outlived the cretins that framed him.

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33 points

Read: Death sentence reduced to 50 years in prison.

And in Japan, that means 50 years of being told he was going to be executed the next morning. Every single night.

That alone is inhumane.

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24 points

ACAB

This is why every sane person should be against death sentence. Yes, some people would deserve it, but police and attorneys misuse the system and kill innocent people, which happened multiple times in a lot of countries.

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1 point

If he had been in Missouri they’d have proceeded anyway

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22 points

This is the worst thing I have heard all day. Whose ready for tomorrow?

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9 points

But wait, there’s more! Japan has a 99.9% conviction rate! He’s definitely not alone!

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8 points
*

Yes, but:

“Scholars say the biggest reason for Japan’s very high conviction rate is the country’s low prosecution rate and the way Japan calculates its conviction rate is different from other countries.According to them, Japanese prosecutors only pursue cases that are likely to result in convictions, and not many others.
According to Professor Ryo Ogiso of Chuo University, prosecutors defer prosecution in 60% of the cases they receive, and conclude the remaining 30% or so of cases in summary trials. This summary trial is a trial procedure in which cases involving a fine of 1,000,000 yen or less are examined on the basis of documents submitted by the public prosecutor without a formal trial if there is no objection from the suspect.
Only about 8% of cases are actually prosecuted, and this low prosecution rate is the reason for Japan’s high conviction rate.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice_system_of_Japan

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4 points
*

Uh huh. Did you read the part where they don’t have a presumption of innocence, like any actual justice system? Where you don’t have the right to the presence of a lawyer during interrogation, which can happen over 23 days at a time? Where they can do that multiple times?

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/25/japan-hostage-justice-system-violates-rights

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2 points

I’ve seen it reported that if you count plea bargains as convictions, which is much closer to how Japan calculates conviction rate, that the US conviction rate is essentially the same as the Japanese one.

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3 points

Honestly, after a week of executions over here, including one against the wishes of prosecutors and the victim’s family, and another after a witness came forward and said they lied, this is the best news I’ve heard today.

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-11 points
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