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Social Constructionism in the Study of Social Problems and Globalization: International Human Rights Narratives and Efforts to Abolish Death Penalty in Japan

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Abstract

Spector and Kitsuse’s Constructing Social Problems has influenced scholars around the world. However, it remains a book by American scholars, who drew heavily on their understanding of the social problems process in the U.S. This paper examines claimsmaking about the death penalty in Japan. It seeks to explain the prominence of references to international law in those claims--an emphasis rather different than found in U.S. claims about the same issue.

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Notes

  1. No sooner than Japanese government report is submitted, the counter reports written by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and human rights organizations are submitted (Kangoku Jinken Senta 2013). And, sometime before reviewing the reports, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations invites the members of the reviewing committee to observe the facilities relevant to human rights and to explain to them the Japanese situation of human rights.

  2. The formal name is “the declaration of the request to change of the whole system of the punishment including the abolishment of the death penalty.” (Nihon Bengoshi Rengo-kai 2016)

  3. In the U.S., the public opinion survey shows that the rate of support for the death penalty has decreased recently, because respondents now have the option to choose lifelong imprisonment without parole (Gallop 2017; Roeber 2015).

References

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Ayukawa, J. Social Constructionism in the Study of Social Problems and Globalization: International Human Rights Narratives and Efforts to Abolish Death Penalty in Japan. Am Soc 50, 290–299 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-018-9394-0

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