What do Texas and Japan have in common?

[L S]

More than 80% of Japanese support death penalty, shows gov't poll

(Kyodo) _ The percentage of people expressing support for the death penalty in a recent Japanese government survey came to 81.4 percent, exceeding the 80 percent mark for the first time, according to survey results released Saturday.
The figure, increased from an earlier survey in 1999, apparently reflects deepening public alarm over a recent spate of serious crimes in Japan, including the kidnapping and murder of a girl from the city of Nara.

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http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050219/kyodo/d88bgqko0.html

[vir-jin]

Japan Times[/b]]Support for death penalty passes 80% for first time

More than 81 percent of Japanese expressed support for the death penalty in a recent government survey, exceeding the 80 percent mark for the first time.
The rise appears to reflect deepening public alarm over a recent spate of serious crimes, including the kidnapping and murder of a girl in Nara.
The increase to 81.4 percent of respondents saying they support the death penalty was 2.1 percentage points higher than in the previous survey in November 1999, when the support figure was 79.3 percent.

Only 6.0 percent said the death penalty should be abolished, down 2.8 points from the 1999 poll.

The Cabinet Office polled 3,000 men and women aged 20 or older nationwide in December, receiving valid responses from 68.3 percent.

The number of people saying they favor the death penalty has been increasing since hitting a record low 56.9 percent in a 1975 survey.

In answering why they support execution, 54.7 percent said perpetrators of heinous crimes should die to pay for their crimes, followed by 53.3 percent who said the number of heinous crimes would rise if the death penalty was abolished.

A total of 60.3 percent said they believe the death penalty system will further deter crimes, and 45 percent cited the dangers of criminals repeatedly committing crimes without such a system in place.

Almost 92 percent of the respondents said they pay attention to criminal cases, with 52 percent of that number saying they are concerned about crimes such as theft and fraud, and 31.2 percent about sex crimes including rape and molestation.

Regarding crime victims, 70.6 percent said they believe the rights of victims are not respected during criminal investigations or trials, while 15.9 percent said they are respected.

The Justice Ministry says the death penalty has a certain degree of power to deter crime, but human rights watchdog Amnesty International Japan said the latest figure reflects a situation in which people have been spurred into anxiety over what they perceive as deteriorating security.

The group said there is no proof that the death penalty prevents crime.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050220a2.htm

[ichigo partygirl]

How many people are put to death every year in Japan????