It was revealed by group officials that the Japan Federation...

It was revealed by group officials that the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Japan's largest bar organization, had intentions of proposing a legal moratorium on executions, the first time it has explicitly adopted a position against the death penalty. The policy, adopted by the group's executive board members, come as concerns continued over the deterrent value of capital punishment and the possibility of putting innocent people to death. The general lack of public discussion on the issue had prompted the federation to take its most explicit stance ever on the practice, the officials said. The federation would compile a draft proposal on a death penalty moratorium law and urge lawmakers to enact the law as time-limited legislation, they added. The group had long been reluctant to take a step in this direction because member lawyers remained sharply divided over capital punishment. A person familiar with the debate says 60% of the members are in favour of the death penalty and 40% against it. The group's proposals raised concerns about miscarriages of justice after four Japanese inmates were taken off death row after being acquitted in retrials between July 1983 and February 1989. Other considerations include enduring concerns about the death penalty's savageness and the lack of evidence to suggest it is an effective deterrent.