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The Asian Criminological Society 12th Annual Conference (ACS2020), hosted by Ryukoku University, was held online for four days from June 18 to 21, 2021. The purpose of the conference, the second of its kind to be held in Japan after the 2014 Osaka conference, was to promote the growth of criminology in Asia and Oceania, and to promote academic exchange with advanced regions of criminology such as the United States and Europe.
>> ACS2020 Program　https://acs2020.org/program.html
The overall theme of the conference is "Crime and Punishment under Asian Cultures: Tradition and Innovation in Criminology". The aim was to promote understanding of the social systems and culture and measures against crime and delinquency in Japan, which is said to be "the country with the least crime in the world".

The following is a summary of the Closing Plenary Session, which was held live streaming at the conference.

Presentation Summary:

[Decrease in Crime Recognition and Increase in Crimes by the Elderly]
Japan is said to be one of the safest countries among the developed countries. The number of homicide arrests per 100,000 population is much lower than in other countries, and is decreasing every year. The number of deaths due to violent crime is also decreasing. On the other hand, crimes committed by the elderly are on the rise. Even though the total number of inmates is decreasing, the number of elderly people being held in penal institutions for minor crimes such as shoplifting is increasing. It may be said that inmates in Japan are becoming welfare facilities. Many elderly inmates suffer from dementia, and the number of elderlies who die in prison is increasing. There are also inmates who reoffend and re-enter prison because they have no place in society. Prisons have become a safety net for the elderly.

[So-called "Peer Pressure"]
Japanese society is punitive towards those who disrupt order and cause trouble. Therefore, people are extremely afraid of causing trouble to others. In Japan, when someone helps you or takes care of you, many people say "I am sorry" instead of "Thank You". This is the same reason why people are hesitant to apply for welfare. It may be said that social order is maintained by mutual surveillance within a group, or fear of exclusion from a group. In a society of mutual surveillance, the fear of exclusion and isolation can discourage crime. However, once a person has become isolated from society, or has crossed the line into crime, he or she will be viewed harshly. As the number of isolated elderly people is increasing, the strict scrutiny of each other is leading them to commit crimes. For such elderly people, prison may be the only place where they do not have to bother others and do not have to worry about being subjected to new stigmas.

[Juvenile Delinquency in Japan]
Recently, the economic situation for juveniles in Japan has been worsening. The number of juveniles living in poverty has been increasing. However, the number of juvenile delinquents is decreasing, a paradoxical phenomenon. This phenomenon can be explained by Robert Merton's theory of anomie. In societies characterized by "innovation" such as the U.S., the predominant value choice and behavioral pattern is that it is okay to have some problems with how the goal is achieved. Japan, on the other hand, is a society where "ritualism" prevails, where alignment and synchronization are more important than devaluing goals. Furthermore, there is even a tendency among young people these days toward "retreatism," which is the abandonment of achieving goals and conforming to rules in the first place. So we are beginning to see juveniles who are not even motivated to delinquency. An international survey on youth attitudes conducted by the Cabinet Office also shows that Japanese youths do not have high hopes for their future. Without big dreams, there will be no tension due to dissatisfaction, which can lead to crime.

[Pandemics and Criminology]
This year's Asian Criminological Society 12th Annual Conference was held in the midst of a pandemic, the global outbreak of COVID-19. As a member of the academic division, I asked the invited speakers to mention the pandemic.

Prof. David Garland (Sociology of Law, New York University, U.S.) argued that criminology should learn from the role that public health (experts) have played in this pandemic. He also argued that it is important to take a public criminology perspective on how to communicate expert knowledge to citizens and policymakers.
In a pandemic, a person is infected with a virus, which is then transmitted by the infected person to other people. An important mission for public health is to communicate real threats to people scientifically. In other words, the key message is to accurately convey that the target to be fought (evil) is the virus, not the person carrying it.

The same goes for criminology. Penal Populism argues that it is the individual criminals who are the real threats to us so that isolating (incapacitating), intimidating, and monitoring them will be the answers to solve the problem.
The mission of criminology, like that of public health, is to inform the public, based on scientific knowledge, about the mechanisms that make people commit a crime and the mechanisms that help people recover from crime. As with infectious diseases, any person can be infected with the virus of crime. And anyone can recover from that infection. It is important to convey this fact properly to the public.


Prof. Shadd Maruna (School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen's University, UK) showed how to recover from the infection of crime. Prof. Lorraine Mazerolle (School of Criminology, University of Queensland, Australia) pointed out that reliable criminal justice is the key to solving the problem. Like Prof. Garland, Prof. John Pratt (Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) pointed out that criminology needs to learn from public health successes and strive to communicate the right knowledge to the public, which will reduce punitive populism and pave the way for the future of criminology. He pointed out that criminology needs to learn from public health success stories and try to communicate the right knowledge to the public.

Japanese society is basically very punitive towards people who cross a certain line and cause trouble or cause trouble to others. And it is a society where mutual surveillance functions to prevent people from crossing certain lines. Even in the midst of a pandemic, the Japanese government has not taken strong measures such as lockdowns like European countries have. And trust in the government is not high. However, we have been able to maintain a relatively low infection rate, probably because of the functioning of these characteristics of our society.

[Paradigm of Criminal Policy]
Let me tell you about the case in Japan. At the request of a local government, I took on the role of an advisor for rehabilitation. I advised them, based on empirical data, that it is important to support reintegration into the community to prevent recidivism. I explained, based on evidence, that offenders are not enemies who should be excluded from society, but are born into society and return to it, just like us.　Criminal policy in Japan should shift from a punitive paradigm to a reintegration paradigm. Such efforts are beginning to be made at the municipal level, and the "Nara City Regulation on Rehabilitation Support," in which I was involved, is one example.


[Conclusion Message]
In Buddhism, there is the concept of 縁(En), which is the everything that supports us. Without 縁, we would not be able to live on our own. If criminology can convince people that those who have committed crimes are also human beings just like us, and that they can be recovered by regaining their 縁, Japan may be able to change from a society of mutual surveillance to a society of mutual trust. This may be the path for which criminology in Japan should aim.


After the plenary lecture that summarized the conference, there was a discussion on why elderly people commit crimes in Japan and why they tend to be isolated. The answer lies in the isolation of the elderly. Elderly people who live alone cannot live without the help of those around them. However, many elderly people stay indoors and isolate themselves because they feel that they should not bother others for help.

The Asian Criminological Society 12th Annual Conference (ACS2020), hosted by Ryukoku University, was held online for four days from June 18 to 21, 2021. The purpose of the conference, the second of its kind to be held in Japan after the 2014 Osaka conference, was to promote the growth of criminology in Asia and Oceania, and to promote academic exchange with advanced regions of criminology such as the United States and Europe.
>> ACS2020 Program　https://acs2020.org/program.html
The overall theme of the conference is "Crime and Punishment under Asian Cultures: Tradition and Innovation in Criminology". The aim was to promote understanding of the social systems and culture and measures against crime and delinquency in Japan, which is said to be "the country with the least crime in the world".

The following is a summary of the Plenary Session with Q&A Session, which was held live streaming at the conference.

Summary of the Q&A Session

Question 1: What is the relationship between spiritual criminology and positive criminology?
Answer 1: Spiritual criminology goes beyond the usual distinctions of positive and negative, good and evil.
Question 2: Can your report today be applied to secular situations?
Answer 2: Today, I talked about spirituality, not about religion. Both secular and religious people do good and share similar experiences.

Question 3: If being a volunteer is so important, what is the significance of being an expert?
Answer 3: When you are an expert, you are firstly a volunteer who unconditionally wants to help others, beyond which you have the added value of being an expert.

Question 4: I would like to learn more about spiritual criminology and its relationship to religion. I am interested in religion as a political issue. What forms of religion and spirituality are beneficial to society? Who decides this and how? If there are inmates in prison who follow an antisocial religion, should they be allowed to practice their beliefs?
Answer 4: Religion is the act of praying and performing rituals, while spirituality is what is in the mind of the person performing the act. The separation is a shift from self-centeredness to other-centeredness and God-centeredness. Religious groups and gangs are self-centered if they are separated from society. It is difficult to determine what is self-centered and what is not. Rather, we can only say that we hope to grow out of that self-centeredness.

Question 5: I have been doing research on ”Aum Shinrikyo". I have met many prison chaplains, but none of them belong to Aum Shinrikyo. To define a religion as good or bad is to give the government the authority to define which religions are good or bad. I think there is a common interest in this point.
Answer 5: Any power has the potential for abuse. Crime is an abuse of power, and prisons are places where power is abused. Massacres have been committed in the name of religion. This is why spiritual criminology tries to provide ideas that go beyond the distinction between good and evil and focus on the battle against self-centeredness.

Question 6: The concept of self-centeredness is central to the argument, but why is suicide, in which the self is killed, a manifestation of self-centeredness?
Answer 6: Self-centeredness refers to a situation in which one is occupied with oneself. Suicide or self-injury is a kind of proof that one can control one's life. Suicide means to end the pain, which is a sign of self-centeredness.

Question 7: Could you provide us with more information about your clinical practice?
Answer 7: I have published a book on psychotherapy called "Twelve Tools," which is similar to the Twelve Steps. I treat a wide variety of people, from rich to poor. Some are drug addicts, some are sex addicts, some are violent, some are sexually violent. Some of my patients are Orthodox Jews. They are very religious, but many of them are sex addicts. Sex is legal, so they are not sex offenders, but there is no spirituality in this case. In the initial interview, I ask about their belief systems and religion. This is a good starting point. Sexually addicted people are constantly thinking about sex and are caught up in it. This treatment is difficult but possible.
Question 8: In recent years measures of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health have led to reversals. Addiction has become the focus of treatment and correction. What can be done to overcome this?

Answer 8: The government has nothing inherently to do with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). I teach a 12-step program at university and send my students to AA and NA programs as part of their education. In Israel, the government has provided facilities to help NA, and NA has been established in various cities. I would like to see more cooperation from the groups.

Question 9: In Japan, the elderly are isolated from society and many of them are in prison for committing crimes. How can we solve this problem?
Answer 9: If we build halfway houses, we will end up building another prison. Instead, it is important to rent a house locally and create a community, which is cheaper for the government. AA, NA, etc. can also be used in such communities to bridge the gap between society and those on the periphery of society.

Question 10: I want to know about the philosophy behind your spiritual criminology.
Answer 10: My source is the 12 steps, and I have traveled in search of spirituality within me. I've been to Japan, I've done Zen, I've been to India. The root of their commonality is something greater than the self.

The Asian Criminological Society 12th Annual Conference (ACS2020), hosted by Ryukoku University, was held online for four days from June 18 to 21, 2021. The purpose of the conference, the second of its kind to be held in Japan after the 2014 Osaka conference, was to promote the growth of criminology in Asia and Oceania, and to promote academic exchange with advanced regions of criminology such as the United States and Europe.
>> ACS2020 Program　https://acs2020.org/program.html
The overall theme of the conference is "Crime and Punishment under Asian Cultures: Tradition and Innovation in Criminology". The aim was to promote understanding of the social systems and culture and measures against crime and delinquency in Japan, which is said to be "the country with the least crime in the world".

The following is a summary of the Plenary Session with Q&A Session, which was held live streaming at the conference.

Summary of the Q&A Session

Question 1: Your report focuses on female prisoners charged with drug-related crimes, which are so-called "victimless crimes." What kind of effects can we expect from this Strength-Based Psychology intervention for crimes with victims, not drug-related crimes? What is the relationship between making amends to the victim and correctional education that is conscious of the victim's perspective?
Answer 1: While it is true that the female prisoners in my report are "drug offenders" in both the experimental and control groups, some of them have committed other crimes in addition to drug offenses. Some of them committed other crimes as a means of obtaining illegal drugs. For those who committed fraud or violent crimes, it is true that empathy for the victims is important. However, I believe that the main aspects of Strength-Based Psychology interventions can be applied to these crimes as well.

Question 2: The importance of Strength-Based Psychology interventions in penal institutions is as you reported. On the other hand, are there any plans to apply this approach to follow-up studies after prisoners are released from prison? How about investigating the impact on the rate of reimprisoned inmates?
Answer 2: Of course, it would be nice to be able to study the effects of the Strength-Based Psychology interventions even after the prisoners are released. However, there are some barriers to this kind of study. For example, access to information on ex-prisoners after their release is quite limited. There is a strong need for confidentiality of information on ex-prisoners. It should also be pointed out that the prisoners are serving long sentences. (It takes a long time for them to return to society.)
As a further area of application of this study, the effects on male prisoners should also be considered. However, we recognize that the degree of engagement in the program is higher for women than for boys, and that the effects are also higher.
We also believe that this approach has a role to play in the training of police officers and prison guards.

Question 3: Could it be that the Strength-Based Psychology interventions could also be expected to change prison culture - especially a culture that has been far too male-oriented?
Answer 3: That's right. The implementation of such programs in penal institutions may create a more relaxed atmosphere within the penal institutions themselves. In Taiwan's female prisons, it can be said that more effective correctional education programs are being implemented in the classroom, and more women are becoming correctional officers.

Question 4: Please explain a little more about the changes in prison culture in Taiwan. In particular, have you begun to see the perspective of "open prisons"? For example, is there an external ombudsman organization like the Penal Institution Visiting Committee in Japan, or is there a movement of outreach from penal institutions to the local community?
Answer 4: Recent legal reforms have led to the establishment of oversight committees organized by those outside penal institutions. Based on the complaints and suggestions of prisoners, the committee makes recommendations for the improvement of penal institutions.

Question 5: In Taiwan, what kinds of initiatives, both government-led and by private organizations, are available to help prisoners reintegrate into society after their release?
Answer 5: Especially in recent years, the government has begun to realize the importance of social networks after release from prison. There is also an emphasis on efforts to support the bonds between prisoners and their families. I hope to see more and more interventions based on these ideas in the future.

The Asian Criminological Society 12th Annual Conference (ACS2020), hosted by Ryukoku University, was held online for four days from June 18 to 21, 2021. The purpose of the conference, the second of its kind to be held in Japan after the 2014 Osaka conference, was to promote the growth of criminology in Asia and Oceania, and to promote academic exchange with advanced regions of criminology such as the United States and Europe.
>> ACS2020 Program　https://acs2020.org/program.html
The overall theme of the conference is "Crime and Punishment under Asian Cultures: Tradition and Innovation in Criminology". The aim was to promote understanding of the social systems and culture and measures against crime and delinquency in Japan, which is said to be "the country with the least crime in the world".

The following is a summary of the Plenary Session with Q&A Session, which was held live streaming at the conference.

Summary of the Q&A Session

Question 1: Do you think that prison chaplains should play a more active and significant role in the campaign to abolish the death penalty in Japan? If so, what do they need to do in order to play a meaningful role?
Answer 1: It is true that prison chaplains can help in the effort to abolish the death penalty in Japan. However, it is very difficult for them to play a meaningful role in the campaign to abolish the death penalty. If a chaplain makes political statements, he or she may be banned by the authorities from contacting inmates. Most chaplains refrain from making political statements in order to remain involved with the inmates. In this sense, the prison chaplains face a big dilemma.

Question 2: In watching the movie "Deadman Walking," I noted that Sister Prejean was very active in speaking about and acting on the issue of the death penalty. Why are Japanese counselors so reluctant to speak or act in a legal or political manner?
Answer 2: The Japanese Constitution stipulates a strict separation of religion and state. Therefore, if a chaplain is involved in activities to abolish the death penalty, the prison will claim that he or she is violating this constitutional principle. If chaplains get involved in political activities, they will be abandoning inmates who are really seeking moral relief. Keiko Horikawa's "Kyokaishi" (Kodansha, 2014) is based on an interview with real-life chaplains to  death row inmates. Fuso Watanabe depicts how stressful a job it is to be a chaplain to death row inmates. Every chaplain to death row inmates must feel a great burden.

Question 3: There seems to be a gap between the official manuals of each religious sect and the actual activities of the chaplains in prisons. I would like to know if you know of any efforts to bridge this gap.
Answer 3: I am not aware of any organized effort to create a new manual that comprehensively reflects what is actually being done in the field. Each chaplain works in his or her own way. Education for the improvement of indoctrination is usually said to be teaching for good guidance. For example, "If you do bad things, bad things will come back to you as retribution. Because you have sinned, you are in prison as payback for your evil karma. Bad karma can be eliminated by conversion. This is the traditional and typical story of karma. However, Miyoko Fukai, the prison chaplain introduced in the report, said, "I often work with people with intellectual disabilities. In order to teach those who do not have the ability to learn easily, the educational penalty system model does not work well. The chaplains are trying to solve structural problems within the walls by being kind to those who have spilled over from the social safety net.

Question 4: Do inmates have to disclose their religious beliefs to the public when they are incarcerated in a penal institution?
Answer 4: Visits to the chaplain are not compulsory, but are conducted when requested by an inmate. There are many reasons why inmates want to meet with them, including the wish to receiving counseling, and because the chaplain’s activities overlap with other workshops. Before World War II, it was mandatory for prisoners to receive religious teachings. All the chaplains were monks of the Hongwanji school of the Jodo Shinshu sect in the East and West, and they were civil servants. Buddhism in Japan is diverse and there are many different sects, but the largest traditional Buddhist sect is Jodo Shinshu. Many Westerners have an image of Japanese Buddhism as Zen Buddhism. The most politically and culturally influential Buddhist sect in modern Japan has been Jodo Shinshu, especially from around 1900 to 1945, when the Honpa Hongwanji and Otani sects of Jodo Shinshu dominated the prison ministry.

Question 5: Please explain "karmic connection".
Answer 5: The concept of "karma" is well known in the West. The title of my upcoming book is "Karma and Punishment". This title reminds me of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment". Although "crime" and "karma" seem similar, I use the concept of "karma" in the book to explain how chaplains develop and institutionalize these two conflicting missions. In official documents and the like, chaplains use a "karmic" discourse. However, in private conversations, they often use the expression "karmic connection" rather than talking of "good (or bad) karma" or "cause and effect". This can be seen as a resistance to top-down, narrowly defined, one-sided impositions. In the West, Christian chaplains often use the discourse of "spiritual care," which is not officially used in Japan, even though something similar was sometimes mentioned in the interviews. I believe that Japanese chaplains have their own concept of "Mental Healthcare."
With this in mind, I did not use Western concepts in the title of my book, but used the Japanese word "karma," which comes from Japanese Buddhism.

Question 6: It seems to me that Christian chaplains deny the theology of "karma".
Answer 6: There is no movement to deny the "karma" story in Japanese prisons today. In Japan, with the exception of a few pioneers from the Meiji period to the early Showa period, Christian chaplains generally did not appear until after the war. Christian chaplains do not base their teachings on the idea of karma, but they do use the metaphor of "karmic connection". Since that is a common expression used in daily conversation rather than a religious one, Christian chaplains use it as one of their everyday terms.

Question 7: Will theology continue to be practiced as part of rehabilitation in Japan?
Answer 7: Indeed, Japan, like the West, is becoming a non-religious society. However, the Chaplain program continues to exist as part of the prison system, and the 2017 edition of the ”Chaplain Manual” (edited by the Chaplain Manual Editorial Committee) describes "karma," "purification," and "correction" in the same way as the previous edition, which is somewhat anachronistic. However, the discourse of "Mental healthcare" is becoming more popular in Japan, and if chaplains start using this discourse, the theology will probably change. Prisons in Japan are aging. The real prisons are full of people who have fallen through the social safety net and have nowhere else to go. It does not make much sense to talk to them with a focus on the doctrine of "karma.” In fact, that is what the teachings say.

Question 8: Are chaplains active during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Answer 8: I talked to the Japan Federation of Chaplains, and was told that everything has stopped. There is no face-to-face visitation, although correspondence is still going on. The penitentiary seems to be limiting the number of visits because many elderly inmates are at high risk of infection.

[Reference]
https://www.waterstones.com/book/karma-and-punishment/adam-j-lyons/9780674260153
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karma-Punishment-Chaplaincy-Harvard-Monographs/dp/0674260155
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Adam-J-Lyons/dp/0674260155/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Karma+and+Punishment%3A+Prison+Chaplaincy+in+Japan&qid=1624157388&sr=8-1

The Asian Criminological Society 12th Annual Conference (ACS2020), hosted by Ryukoku University, was held online for four days from June 18 to 21, 2021. The purpose of the conference, the second of its kind to be held in Japan after the 2014 Osaka conference, was to promote the growth of criminology in Asia and Oceania, and to promote academic exchange with advanced regions of criminology such as the United States and Europe.
>> ACS2020 Program　https://acs2020.org/program.html
The overall theme of the conference is "Crime and Punishment under Asian Cultures: Tradition and Innovation in Criminology". The aim was to promote understanding of the social systems and culture and measures against crime and delinquency in Japan, which is said to be "the country with the least crime in the world".

The following is a summary of the Plenary Session with Q&A Session, which was held live streaming at the conference.

Summary of the Q&A Session

Question 1: Some people in Japan and elsewhere are addicted to conspiracy theories such as QAnon. What do you think about conspiracy theories? What are some ways to counter them?
Answer 1: I think that conspiracy theories and their growing influence on social networking services are issues that we should be concerned about, but I believe that only a limited number of people fall for such things. I don't think we need to worry too much about it. I think the only way to fight it is to communicate the facts properly.

Question 2: Is there a possibility that populism will rise again after the pandemic?
Answer 2: Although this remains a concern, but both Trump and Bolsonaro have failed to take action against COVID-19 and are gradually losing support. As in Japan, until the pandemic, no one knew the names of the public health experts. But now, everyone knows who they are. I think people are starting to value the opinions of experts more than the government, because they are telling the truth and trying to fight the crisis correctly. In New Zealand, there is also a growing trust that the government will listen to the experts and act accordingly. As a result, support for far-right parties has declined significantly.

Question 3: In Japan, the feud between the government (Prime Minister) and the experts has become a major problem. They do not seem to trust each other. Particularly in the case of the Olympic Games (TOKYO 2020), the government seems to be ignoring the opinions of experts, and is pushing ahead with the event, which makes many people feel uneasy. I think this is where the populists can make inroads.
Answer 3: It may seem a little too pessimistic, but this could be a possibility. However, looking at public opinion polls in developed countries in Europe and the U.S., we see that while the public is cautious about lifting lockdowns, the government is more insistent about lifting them, which is the exact opposite of what we would expect during a populist era. This suggests that the public is more sober-minded, and is placing more weight on the opinions of experts than the government. In that light, we can be a little more optimistic.

Question 4: I am sure you have heard Professor Garland's lecture, the content of which has much in common with Professor Pratt's lecture. Professor Garland said that pandemics help experts gain social status and public trust, so that the public is properly educated and a good form of populism is created. What did you think about his lecture?
Answer 4: His talks are always thought-provoking. It was interesting to hear him speak today about the potential for expert science-based opinion to guide public opinion in the right direction. With the pandemic crisis, public health experts suddenly came to the public's attention and won the public's trust by presenting unshakable common knowledge based on science. However, public health has a long history of contributing to society through its scientific findings. In contrast, criminology has a short history. It may not be so easy to win the trust of the public in the same way as the public health experts. If we compare the level of trust in doctors and police officers, the difference seems obvious. However, the situation is not impossible. Professor Garland also said that it is important to know what kind of story you are telling the public. We will need the help of journalists to educate the public. However, several criminologists have tried to do so, but without much success. As Professor Maruna mentioned in his lecture yesterday, we need a social movement approach. In New Zealand, the government has heeded campaigns by young people, albeit on a limited basis. When I published "Penal Populism," I was invited to speak to various journalists and politicians, and since they too were influenced by populism, I did not feel that my talk had that much of an effect on them. However, we may have been able to influence the thinking of young people to a certain extent. If anything, my other book, "Contrasts in Punishment (2013)" may have been more influential. I think it was meaningful that the country where government officials go to learn (by inspection) has changed from the US to Scandinavia.

Question 5: The pandemic has a clear target: the virus. It is possible to distinguish between the virus and the people who carry it and spread it. In criminology, the target is the person who commits the crime, and I think the problem is that it is difficult to separate the person from the cause of the crime. What are your thoughts on this?
Answer 5: Exactly. Viruses are a real risk and all people are exposed to them, but crime is not. I think people are also easier for populists to demonize than viruses.

Question 6: Penal Populism tends to support the death penalty, but do you think that this pandemic will have any impact on the movement to abolish the death penalty?
Answer 6: I think that the issue of the death penalty is more of a moral issue. In that sense, I think it should be seen as a different issue from Penal Populism. So I haven't really thought about the impact of the pandemic on the movement to abolish the death penalty.

Question 7: What do you think led to the abolition of the death penalty in New Zealand?
Answer 7: The death penalty was abolished in New Zealand in the 1960s, the same time as in the UK, but the number of executions had been decreasing even before that, and the last execution was in 1957. Rather than a major campaign, the abolition of the death penalty seems to have occurred as part of an overall trend. In Scandinavian countries, the death penalty was abolished after World War I. In societies with a high degree of homogeneity and a small social distance between people, the death penalty is probably not necessary in the first place. In New Zealand, far-right parties sometimes argue for the reinstatement of the death penalty, but they are not very influential.
Comment 7: The conditions in Scandinavia and other countries that have just been pointed out, such as a high degree of homogeneity and a decreasing crime rate, may apply to Japan, but in reality, the Japanese government is trying to keep the death penalty alive. On a different note, experts in the field of public health are in agreement. In contrast, the opinions of criminal justice experts on criminal policy are varied, and this may be another reason why the opinions of criminologists are not reflected in policy. In Japan, there are some lawyers who are in favor of the death penalty.

Question 8: Regarding the point about pandemics being an antidote to populism, while this may be true for Australia and New Zealand, it is not true for Asian countries, in my opinion. In Japan, of course, but also in the Philippines, there has been an increase in the number of killings by government officials outside the criminal justice process during the pandemic. Where do you think this difference comes from?
Answer 8: That's a difficult question. Of course, I think the detoxification effect varies from country to country. I think New Zealand is the most successful example. The Prime Minister took charge as a leader of 5 million people and appealed for social solidarity. This has been successful in reducing the spread of the disease. In order to function as an antidote, it is necessary to deepen social solidarity. As a matter of fact, it is a bit of a surprise to me that the infection has recently spread in Japan, a country that tends to maintain social distance from the rest of the world. As for the Philippines, since the tyrannical president has been in office since before the pandemic, I think the killings outside the judicial process are increasing as an extension of his attempt to play the strong man. So the impact of a pandemic will of course depend on the societal situation. In any case, I think that social solidarity is the key, and the issue is whether the government can lead people to it.