Japan court acquits longest-serving death row inmate 56 years after murder conviction

Iwao Hakamada, an 88-year-old former professional boxer, was sentenced to death in 1968 for the murder of his boss, his wife, and their two teenage children. He spent 46 years on death row until new evidence emerged and a retrial was ordered in 2014. The retrial was held due to suspicions that investigators may have planted evidence. During the retrial, Hakamada's lawyers argued that new information proved his innocence, while prosecutors claimed there was enough evidence to confirm his guilt. This case has brought global scrutiny to the criminal justice system in Japan, which is one of the few major industrialized democracies that still retains capital punishment.