Punishment and the Victims’ Absence

A Man

The death-row art exhibition forces Kido to confront the tension between defending a condemned person’s humanity and recognizing victims’ grief.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Lawyer Visits the Exhibition

Art from Death Row A new curiosity Kido attends an exhibition of artwork by death-row inmates, partly because Omiura’s prison drawings have unsettled him. Art and existence He wonders whether the pictures advertise the continued existence of people whom the state may soon execute.

The Missing Victims The Missing Victims from "A Man". A Challenge from Kawamura A public accusation Shuichi Kawamura argues that the exhibition centers murderers while excluding the victims and their families.

The Missing Victims from "A Man". A Challenge from Kawamura A public accusation Shuichi Kawamura argues that the exhibition centers murderers while excluding the victims and their families.

A Challenge from Kawamura A public accusation Shuichi Kawamura argues that the exhibition centers murderers while excluding the victims and their families. Kido’s recognition Kido agrees that the victims’ absence is troubling. The challenge touches his own hesitation about the abolition movement.

Rights Against Retribution Rights Against Retribution from "A Man". Sugino’s Legal Argument Limits on punishment Sugino distinguishes emotional revenge from proportional retributivism and argues that death falls outside the…

Rights Against Retribution from "A Man". Sugino’s Legal Argument Limits on punishment Sugino distinguishes emotional revenge from proportional retributivism and argues that death falls outside the…

Sugino’s Legal Argument Limits on punishment Sugino distinguishes emotional revenge from proportional retributivism and argues that death falls outside the modern restriction of freedom. A social question remains His answer defends the condemned person’s rights but does not make the victims’ grief disappear. Kido sees the difficulty in both positions.

A Convict’s Landscape A Convict’s Landscape from "A Man". A Picture Recognized An unexpected resemblance Kido sees landscapes that look like X’s sketches and learns they were painted by Kenkichi Kobayashi.

A Convict’s Landscape from "A Man". A Picture Recognized An unexpected resemblance Kido sees landscapes that look like X’s sketches and learns they were painted by Kenkichi Kobayashi.

A Picture Recognized An unexpected resemblance Kido sees landscapes that look like X’s sketches and learns they were painted by Kenkichi Kobayashi. The investigation shifts The art connects Hara’s private images with the father whose crimes shaped his life and gives Kido a new lead.

State Responsibility and Inherited Harm

The Limits of Blame A life shaped by conditions Kido considers Kobayashi’s abusive childhood and the state’s failure to protect him without absolving his murders. A cycle to interrupt He questions whether executing a lawbreaker can conceal society’s failure to prevent the conditions that helped produce the crime.

Three days before Christmas 2013

During the exhibition talk

Immediately after Kawamura speaks

At the end of the exhibition

After Kido reconstructs Hara’s history