The Peace Preservation Law (chian ijiho) was enacted in 1925, the same year as the law granting universal male voting rights, which it was intended to counterbalance. The law set punishments of up to ten years' imprisonment for anyone joining an organization whose intent was to alter the system of private property or the "national polity" (kokutai) of Japan, i.e., the emperor system. The law was modified twice, in 1928 and 1941, to both expand the range of prohibited activities and increase the severity of punishment to include the death penalty. The Peace Preservation Law was the principal tool for the suppression of dissident thought in Japan, with tens of thousands of detentions, arrests and prosecutions. Although the death penalty was never officially imposed, a number of detainees died from torture or suicide. Following Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945, the law was abolished by the occupation authorities.