Today I knew the news that the European Court of Human Right (ECHR) decided a month ago that a life sentence without possibility of parole was illegal.
The Guardian: Whole-life jail terms without review breach human rights - European court
The European convention on human rights prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment in article 3. According to the ECHR, whole lifetime imprisonment without consideration of release or review is violating this article.
This decision criticized the life sentence to Mr. Vinter, who murdered his family members sequentially, judged in England and Wales. The life sentence without parole is no more adopted in European countries other than England and Holland.
Cabinet members in the UK are annoyed to hear the decision. They seem to strongly believe the necessity of whole lifetime imprisonment.
The Guardian: Tory ministers condemn ECHR ruling on whole-life prison sentences
In contrast, the death penalty is selectable in Japan even now. In a decade ago, Ministers of Justice tended to hesitate ordering the execution. However, after Fuzoku Ikeda Elementary School case, in which a serial killer murdered 8 schoolchildren and injured more, call for the ultimate punishment has been strengthened.
On the other hand, there is no life sentence in Japan. A criminal sentenced to imprisonment for an unlimited term tends to be released after 25 to 30 years. Some researchers claim that Japan should introduce life sentence instead the death penalty.
What a difference!
In my opinion, the death penalty should be ceased. The reason is not its cruelty, but incompansatability. Any human makes a mistake. To be killed by a nation wrongly should be avoided in any way.
I do not know whether life sentence is inhuman. There are a few people extremely dangerous and hardly to change their mind. But I guess that it is also cruel for the workers who treat the criminals to take care of them without considering of their possibility of redemption.
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