Execution in Japan

[DWalt]

I read some interesting information today about execution in Japan. On average, there are only about five per year. There are numerous crimes considered as capital offenses under Japanese law, but nearly all executions (by hanging) are of those who have committed aggravated homicide.The interesting thing is that prisoners are not told in advance the date of their hanging, and learn it only on the morning of their execution, usually one to two hours prior. The reason for that is to prevent the condemned prisoners from first committing suicide. It was stated that popular support in Japan for the death penalty is very high.

 

[Rudi]

Sucks to be them. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

 

[Alk8944]

we definitely need to be extremely careful investigating capital crimes, too many are re-tried or sentences commutes due to poor work by investigators, prosecutors or judges! One thing I have wished for is for the "system" being allowed to accept volunteers for the firing squad when it was still the primary method of execution of a death sentence!

I had one case specifically that I wished I could volunteer. I was the initial officer on a robbery-homicide in a bar. The victim had been totally compliant to the point of laying on his back on the floor behind the bar. While laying there the perpetrator shot him in the face with a .44 Magnum. The victim had been a Special Forces "A Team" member with the detective who had the follow-up investigation! Perp. had an extensive criminal history!

The perp. was found guilty and sentenced to death, and sentence was finally executed, but I sure wished I could have been in on it!.

 

[Truckman]

It was stated that popular support in Japan for the death penalty is very high.

Studies have made of the cases in which a criminal has been executed that the recidivism rate is less than 5%...Much less......Ben

 

[soFlaNative]

#6 this year is scheduled for October in Florida for crimes committed June of '96.
I wonder about how long the time between sentencing to execution in Japan?

 

[moosedog]

Great deterrent. Recidivism rate for executed criminals is running at zero percent.

 

[TXBryan]

Life

I am personally not a fan of capital punishment and it's not so much philosophical but practical. Sentencing someone to death generally results in automatic appeals and the cost of maintaining someone on death row far exceeds the general prison population on an individual basis. A death sentence cost tax-payers more than it's worth. And then there is the always present possibility that we've made a mistake. Pretty easy to show someone from their cell to the door; more difficult to correct a lethal injection. Credible research indicates the death penalty is not a deterrent so it's relegated to revenge in my book.

How about a life sentence that actually means life and no parole? Check out the daily routine of an inmate at a maximum security prison; many might prefer death. I also embrace something that's likely never coming back and that's life at hard labor. Making little rocks out of big rocks all day allows time for reflection. At any rate the punishment for a capital offense should be severe but reversible. My non-educated two-cents.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I would be in favor of the death penalty - but only when we can guarantee that it is only applied to the guilty - in Texas we pride ourselves on our "drive through execution lane" (Rob White's phrase) in Huntsville, but that really too often railroads non-English speakers and the under-funded to death. We have no public defender's office in Houston, those who cannot afford an attorney have their attorney picked by the judge (with a wink). That attorney more often than not has a lot more lucrative cases to work on at the same time. Appeals are complicated if errors are not picked up, or even looked for in the initial trial proceedings. Due process is in the Constitution for a reason, and it is not always met. Not sure what that has to do with execution in Japan, but my two cents.

 

[Marshwheeling]

For a lot of reasons, I don’t think the state should be in the business of executing criminals. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who need killin’.

 

[DWalt]

There are at present many DAs around he country who take the position that punishment for any crime is an outdated concept.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

I have always felt that anyone convicted on false evidence by LEO, DA's
officers or judges and this later is found a wrongful conviction, then the sentence should be served by those who provided the false evidence or
allowed it in court. This would apply to all cases, fron traffic violations
to murder.
I will bet this would cut down on wrongful convictions by a huge percentage.

 

[M29since14]

It is off topic to add, but I will do so anyway, basically supporting HoustonRick. I used to be a determined supporter of the death penalty. After one very brief, minor view of the “justice system” in action, if I were called to be a potential juror in such a case, I would be extremely hesitant to serve. What I saw did not impress me. At all.

I’m a little surprised Japan allows the death penalty. I was not aware of that.

 

[alwslate]

Murderers seem to have no qualms about administering the death penalty to their innocent victims so why should society be so reluctant to do likewise with them?

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Murderers seem to have no qualms about administering the death penalty to their innocent victims so why should society be so reluctant to do likewise with them?

Mainly because society as a whole is a LOT superior morally than these killers. In Louisiana life means life-you will die at Angola. Unlike the person sentenced t death, you will no longer be the center of attention, will not have Sister Whatever at your side, you will not have throngs of people supporting your cause while the victim and their family forgotten. You will not have a phaylanx of lawyers paid for by foundations to rally your cause, you will not get to be interviewed by 60 minutes on the unfairness of it all. No, you will be locked away to rot in jail, dying a little bit each say, with those on the outside who knew you gradually drift away and forget you. Your family and friends will die off and soon there will be nobody on the outside save some friend or distant relative that even knows who you are.You will age quickly, will work in the fields and nobody will give a **** about you. This will go on each day with you slowly dying both physically and mentally. You will have no hope, despair will overtake your life. And then one day you will finally die in the prison hospice swaddled in your diaper and that will be it. There will be nobody left to claim your corpse so you will be buried in a grave behind the dog kennels. Any belongings, old pictures of your momma, rosary, bible will either be be thrown out or given to some other inmate. You will just bwe one less thing to worry about. And that will be that.

 

[alwslate]

I respect your opinion as you are an attorney but I think the flaw in your logic is very common among the morally superior masses. Sociopaths really are different and don't have the personality traits people assume they have. Many of them do not rot slowly in jail dying mentally and physically. They prey on the weak, brag about their crimes looking for and gaining status among the other inmates. Many thrive in prison and enjoy longer lives that they would have lived in society. Being locked up does not cause them to grow a conscience and feel remorse. The only real punishment is death. Anything less is not punishment. The US needs to overhaul the death penalty to make it certain and swift.

 

[Kinman]

In medieval Japan the worst crime you could commit was arson. Largely because all buildings were constructed out of paper and wood. If you were convicted of arson your entire bloodline, both sides were erased. In their Shinto faith, the Japanese people revere their ancestors. All headstones with any mention of your family, both sides would be erased, all living members of your family, both sides would be executed along with you being last.
It was thought that even with those strict guidelines it would end the crime of arson, not so...reduction for sure but not total elimination.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I went back and reread my post and nowhere is there any mention of remorse. Even sociopaths experience the feelings I wrote of. Remorse has nothing to do with it. They'd rather be out of prison than in and sociopaths crave being the center of attention-is gives then validity. You want to punish a sociopath? Send then to Florence. Or Angola. For life.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Credible research indicates the death penalty is not a deterrent so it's relegated to revenge in my book.

Great deterrent. Recidivism rate for executed criminals is running at zero percent.

One poster here is right, and one is wrong.

Can you figure out which is which?

 

[Marshwheeling]

In medieval Japan the worst crime you could commit was arson. Largely because all buildings were constructed out of paper and wood. If you were convicted of arson your entire bloodline, both sides were erased. In their Shinto faith, the Japanese people revere their ancestors. All headstones with any mention of your family, both sides would be erased, all living members of your family, both sides would be executed along with you being last.
It was thought that even with those strict guidelines it would end the crime of arson, not so...reduction for sure but not total elimination.

Because... How do you start a flood?

 

[MRB1]

I support the death sentence. I do not support the endless wait for it to be carried out. IF I knew for sure that a "life without possibility of parole" was indeed that, that would be my first choice, but the victim or victim's family should have last say, and even participate if desired. The noted expenses and "benefits" that death row people incur is the fault of the system only, and should be easily corrected. Actually, calling it revenge is OK as long as the end result is the same.