In a Wednesday ruling, Japan's Supreme Court opted for life in prison for one of three men who met at an underground Internet site and killed a randomly chosen woman because the justices concluded the use of the Internet in the murder did not constitute enough of a threat to public security to justify capital punishment.

In sentencing two of the defendants to death, the district court reasoned that the anonymity of the Internet made it difficult to crack down on such crimes and life sentences could encourage copycat crimes.

On the other hand, the district court sentenced Kawagishi, who voluntarily surrendered to police, to life in prison with the aim of encouraging perpetrators of similar kinds of crimes to voluntarily surrender.

These rulings strongly emphasized the protection of society.

But at the appeal stage, the high court and the Supreme Court concluded the crime in this case was not much more vicious than other types of serious crimes and did not warrant the death penalty.