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Exonerated Japanese Man Awarded $1.4 Million for Decades on Death Row
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Shizuoka prefecture Should the death penalty be legal?

Exonerated Japanese Man Awarded $1.4 Million for Decades on Death Row

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ProCon Debate: Should the Death Penalty Be Legal?

ProCon Issue in the News: In 1966 former Japanese featherweight boxer and miso factory worker Iwao Hakamada was convicted in Japan of murdering his employer, his employer’s wife, and two of their children, as well as robbing them and setting their house ablaze. He was sentenced to death in September 1968 by the Shizuoka District Court.

Although Hakamada first applied for a retrial in April 1981, his multiple appeals were denied, and he spent almost five decades on death row in solitary confinement. His lawyers won his temporary release and a retrial on March 27, 2014, on the basis that DNA testing confirmed that the blood on clothes used as evidence by the police was not Hakamada’s.

Hakamada, now 89, maintains that the police coerced a confession from him after 20 days of interrogation, assault with sticks, and sleep deprivation. Soon after making the confession, Hakamada officially retracted the statement. After his case wound through the system, a retrial was ordered again on March 13, 2023. The Shizuoka District Court exonerated Hakamada on September 26, 2024.

Believed to be the longest-serving death row inmate in the world, Hakamada was awarded $1.4 million (217 million yen) for his wrongful imprisonment. As Hakamada’s lawyer said, “The country committed a crime against him.”

Discussion Questions

  1. Should the death penalty be legal? Why or why not?
  2. Should people wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death receive recompense? If yes, what should they receive? If no, why not?
  3. Should death row inmates be held in solitary confinement? If yes, under which circumstances should they be held in solitary confinement? If no, why not? Explain your answer.

Sources

  • Agence France-Presse, “Exonerated Prisoner Awarded $1.4M After 46 Years Spent on Death Row in Japan” (March 25, 2025), theguardian.com
  • Amnesty International, “Japan: Acquittal of Man Who Spent 45 Years on Death Row Pivotal Moment for Justice” (September 26, 2024), amnesty.org
  • Kyodo News, “Man Wins Landmark Acquittal in 1966 Quadruple Murder Retrial in Japan” (September 27, 2024), english.kyodonews.net
  • Eliott C. McLaughlin, “In Japan, World’s Longest-Serving Death Row Inmate to Get Retrial” (March 27, 2014), cnn.com
  • Yan Zhuang, “Japanese Court Awards $1.4 Million to Exonerated Man” (March 25, 2025), nytimes.com