特赦

• 読み: とくしゃ
• ローマ字: tokusha
• 漢字の分解: 特 (toku) — special, exceptional; 赦 (sha) — pardon, forgive
• 発音: /tokɯɕa/

意味

Special pardon; clemency granted by the head of state to a specific individual, forgiving their crime or reducing their sentence.

Distinguished from 大赦 (general amnesty), which applies to entire categories of offenders. 特赦 is granted to a named individual by the emperor (on advice of the cabinet) and extinguishes or reduces the criminal sentence. It is a rare and politically sensitive act in modern Japan, typically associated with major national celebrations. Internationally, the term applies to any executive pardon.

例文

1. 国家的な慶祝行事に際し、政府は一部の受刑者に対して特赦を実施することを閣議決定した。
2. 特赦は行政による刑事司法への介入であるとして、法学者の間でも賛否両論がある。
3. 外国で服役中の自国民への特赦を求める外交交渉が、両国間で秘密裏に進められていた。

使い方ガイド

場面: law, politics, criminal justice, diplomacy

トーン: formal

起源と歴史

From 特 (special, exceptional) and 赦 (pardon, forgiveness). 赦 contains the radical 攴 (to strike, to discipline) combined with meaning related to releasing from punishment — the idea of an authority choosing to set aside the penalty it otherwise commands.

文化的背景

時代: Modern

世代: Adults

社会的背景: Legal/Political