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■SAKURAI Satoshi January 22, 2011　Japanese History of Executioners: Using an Approach of Historical Sociology，Seikyusha, 213p. ISBN-10: 4787233238 ISBN-13: 978-4787233233　1680 yen　[amazon]／[kinokuniya]

■Contents

Behind the citizen judge system has been a growing interest in the significance of giving a sentence of death. In addition, it has been actively discussed again if the death penalty system should be maintained or not. However, the previous discussions have focused only on "Whom will we kill? / Who will be killed?" and "Who have executed the death penalty itself?” has not been questioned. This book tries to clarify who have taken a role of execution in Japan and what social conditions for selecting executioners are by focusing on such cases as Yamada Asaemon in the Edo period or prison guards in the Meiji period, staying away from the controversial topic of the existence of death penalty system. Through retracing the continuous / discontinuous history to the present situation in which prison guards conduct execution, the author insists that the reason the Minister of Justice orders prison guards, not procurators or judicators, to “live together for killing, then kill them” just depends on accidental historical background. This book tries to solve complicated issues of execution in which ultimately not the nation but “a person” kills a person and propose what we should consider now.

■Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Is the Assertion of "Denial of Killing a Person" Unacceptable?
Introductory Chapter:　Issues of Death Sentence and Execution
　Section 1　Two Aspects of Death Penalty Studies
　Section 2　Presupposed Background: Basic Knowledge on Executioners in Japan
　Section 3　Actual Executioners
　Section 4　Why Do Prison Staff Play a Role of Execution?
　Section 5　Methodology This Book Uses
Chapter 1　Did Jail Staff in the Edo Period Play a Role of Execution?
　Section 1　Views of Criminal Punishment, Death Penalty and Social Status in the Edo Period
　Section 2　Were Jail Staff in the Edo Period Involved in Death Penalty?
　Section 3　Yamada Asaemon Who Carried Out Execution as a Sideline Work
Chapter 2　Why Did Prison Staff Become Involved in Execution?
　Section 1　Emergence of the Gallows
　Section 2　Execution as a Dirty Work
　Section 3　Execution under the Previous Criminal Law
　Section 4　Comparison with the UK: It Is Not Well and Good that Execution Is One of Prison Staff's Duties
Chapter 3　Several Issues of Executioners from Postwar to the Present
　Section 1　Involvement of GHQ in Enactment and Amendment of National Public Service Act
　Section 2　Lawsuit Claiming that the Gallows Is Unconstitutional
　Section 3　Disappearance of Execution Spots in Letters of the Law
　Section 4　Current Situation and Problem of Executioners
Chapter 4　What Are Issues that Have Become Not Questioned?
　Section 1　Voice of Executioners
　Section 2　Transition of a Problem that Prison Staff Serves as Executioner
　Section 3　What Has Become Not Questioned?
Conclusion　Problem of Making Oneself Kill Others

Afterword
References that Are Not Mentioned in the Contexts