Lawmakers opposed to Japan's use of the death penalty...

Lawmakers opposed to Japan's use of the death penalty revealed that they would submit to next year's Diet a bill to set up an ad hoc commission to debate whether it should be abolished. The abolitionist parliamentary league, headed by former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Shizuka Kamei, will also seek Penal Code revisions to create a new penalty for serious offenders. Unlike the current life imprisonment, which typically allows inmates to apply for parole within decades, the new penalty would require inmates to serve more than 20-30 years before becoming eligible for parole. The group's proposal on Penal Code revisions is based on a private proposal by Toshiko Hamayotsu, a New Komeito member who sits in the House of Councillors. The group's proposal would list both the death penalty and the new penalty under the Penal Code to give judges a choice between the two. It would also stipulate that the debate at the panel be concluded within two years of the law's implementation, and would set a bylaw that enforces a moratorium on executions during that two-year period.