Dr Sato wins Young Criminologist 2014 Award in Japan
Her research looks at attitudes to the death penalty in Japan
Dr Mai Sato, Research Fellow in the Institute for Criminal Policy Research in Birkbeck’s School of Law has been awarded the Young Criminologist 2014 prize by the Japanese Association of Sociological Criminology for her book The Death Penalty in Japan: Will the Public Tolerate Abolition? and was invited to speak at a high-profile event organised by the EU delegation to the UN.
Dr Sato completed her PhD in 2011, which examined public attitudes to the death penalty in Japan. She used survey work, social experiments, and deliberative consultation as her methodology to determine the effect of information and deliberation on support for the death penalty. Her main findings show that death penalty attitudes are not fixed but fluid. Information has a significant impact on reducing support for the death penalty while retributive attitudes are associated with support. The book offers a new conceptual framework in understanding the death penalty without relying on the usual human rights approach.
In October, Dr Sato spoke at a high-profile panel debate entitled "Justice that kills – the death penalty in the 21st century". The event was organised by the EU Delegation to the UN in Geneva, together with the Permanent Mission of Italy and the Graduate Institute.
Dr Sato said: “I was delighted to receive the Young Criminologist 2014 Award and be invited to speak about the findings of my research at the EU’s panel debate. My research findings have shown that instead of measuring support for the death penalty, we should measure public acceptance and tolerance of its abolition. If the public views an abolition of the death penalty as legitimate, it can be done with appropriate leadership.”
Dr Sato is currently funded by the UK, German and Norwegian embassies to conduct further empirical work on the death penalty in Japan.