Following a series of wrongful imprisonment cases, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations recently proposed that death sentences be handed down unanimously in lay judge trials, presided over by three professional judges and six citizens.
"People have been unfairly accused even in capital cases, thus it is necessary to introduce the unanimity rule when issuing a death sentence to prevent miscarriages of justice," the JFBA said, noting that death-row inmates have been acquitted after retrial in four postwar murder cases.
Under the current system, verdicts are based on "conditional majorities" that must include at least one professional judge.