”Period and Circumstanc” under which Death Penalty was Ruled Constitutional:

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Other Title
  • 死刑制度合憲判決の「時代と環境」
  • 死刑制度合憲判決の「時代と環境」 : 1948年の「残虐」観
  • シケイ セイド ゴウケン ハンケツ ノ 「 ジダイ ト カンキョウ 」 : 1948ネン ノ 「 ザンギャク 」 ミ
  • ─1948年の「残虐」観─
  • View on “Cruelty” in 1948

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This paper considers why Japan retains death penalty. Especially, this paper focuses on the ruling of the Supreme Court made under the new constitution (Constitution of Japan) on March 12, 1948 that held death penalty constitutional, and aims to provide understanding of the relationship between death penalty system (hanging) and views on ［Cruelty］ of those days, from the standpoint of the historical and social background (i.e.［Period and Circumstance］) during the Occupation. This paper analyzes the documents maintained at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, papers written by then scholars of criminal law, recollection of Oppler, Alfred Christian, as well as articles of newspaper publishers, including the Asahi Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun. The analysis has revealed that the ［Period and Circumstance］ under the Occupation constituted one of the elements that retained death penalty, rather than causing the country to miss opportunity to abolish death penalty as pointed out by previous studies. It has been a while since hanging became obsolete in the United States. In this point, the ［Period and Circumstance］ has considerably changed from those as of March 12, 1948, when death penalty was held constitutional. From said analysis, this paper has concluded that ［Period and Circumstance］ under which death penalty was ruled constitutional need to be reconsidered not only from the standpoint of study of law but from that of historiography and sociology.

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