At a symposium on capital punishment in Tokyo, sponsored...

At a symposium on capital punishment in Tokyo, sponsored by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Renny Cushing, the executive director of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, also the son of a murdered man in the US, said bereaved families of victims were expected to welcome the execution of offenders, even if they were opposed to the death penalty. Cushing told the audience of more than 200 people that there was a stereotype saying victims wanted or needed the death penalty. But Cushing called such expectations "re-victimization" as they "take away my values." Cushing's father was shot to death in 1988 but Cushing opposed capital punishment before the incident. He said he wanted to live in "a world where life is respected" and did not want to lose this values because of his father's murder. The change would "make the tragedy worse," he said. Cushing, a former member of New Hampshire's state house of representatives, also noted that a society with the death penalty tended to focus on how offenders would be punished while ignoring victims. His lecture is part of a series of nationwide Japan Federal Bar Association symposiums on capital punishment prior to the federation's annual human rights meeting in October in the city of Miyazaki.