PRISONER has been acquitted after spending 48 years in prison for the Hakamada mass murder of 1966.
Ex-boxer, Iwao Hakamada, was on death row for almost half a century, after being wrongfully sentenced for the murder of his boss, the wife and their two teenage children.
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Who is Iwao Hakamada?
Iwao Hakamada is known for being the world’s longest-serving death row inmate.
He spent a total of 48 years in prison – with more than 45 of them on death row.
Born March 10, 1936, in Yuto town, Japan, Iwao is a Japanese former professional boxer.
From 1959 to 1961, Iwao competed in 29 professional boxing matches, finishing his career with 16 wins on record, ranking sixth in his weight category.
Iwao was sentenced to death on September 11, 1968 for a mass murder that became known as the Hakamada Incident of 1966.
On September 25, 2024 he was found not guilty after a Japanese court revealed that evidence used against him was fabricated.
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Iwao Hakamada's sentence
The ex-boxer was sentenced to death in 1968 for killing his former boss, his wife, and two of their children and setting fire to their home.
On March 10, 2011 the Guinness World Records named Iwao as the world’s longest-held death row inmate.
In September 2024, Iwao was ruled not guilty in a retrial by the Shizuoka District Court – overturning the earlier wrongful conviction.
Why do people stay on death row so long?
More than half of all prisoners currently sentenced to death in the United States have been on death row for more than 18 years.
In the United States, prisoners may wait many years before execution can be carried out due to the complex and time-consuming appeal process.
Public opinion on the death penalty can change over time, as well as the way states and the federal government carry out executions which are also contributing factors.
The United States have received persistent criticism on its use of capital punishment.
Around 70% of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment.
As of 2024, Belarus remains the only country in Europe that continues to carry out the death penalty.
The longest-serving death row inmates
SOME of the longest-serving death row inmates in the world have spent decades awaiting execution, either due to legal appeals, delays, or changes in the legal status of their sentences.
Here are some examples:
Gary Alvord (USA): Held on death row for over 39 years before dying of natural causes in 2013, Alvord was one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the United States. He was sentenced to death in 1974 in Florida for a triple murder, but his execution was delayed due to legal and mental health issues.
Iwao Hakamada (Japan): Hakamada spent over four decades on death row in Japan, since 1968, before being released after a court ruled that there was a possibility he was wrongfully convicted. Hakamada, a former boxer, was sentenced to death for a quadruple murder, with his case now one of the most famous in Japan for wrongful convictions.
Raymond Rails (USA): Riles holds the record for being one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the US, having been on death row in Texas for over 45 years (since 1976). His execution has been delayed due to issues related to his mental competency.
David Carpenter (USA): Known as the “Trailside Killer,” Carpenter has been on death row in California since 1984. He was convicted of multiple murders committed in the 1970s and early 1980s. Carpenter’s case has been delayed by California’s notoriously slow death penalty process and ongoing appeals, and he remains on death row at over 90 years old.
Ronald Sanford (USA): Sanford has been incarcerated in Indiana since he was 13 years old after being convicted of a double murder in 1987. Although not technically on death row, his life sentence without the possibility of parole has drawn comparisons to long-serving death row inmates. His case raises issues related to sentencing juveniles to life in prison.