While in the US we’re debating whether lethal injection is too harsh, Japan is still hanging its criminals. Plus they’re in complete solitary confinement while they wait, some for decades. Plus, they’re never given any idea as to when when it’ll happen.
Baltimore Sun – March 12, 2006:
Like all prisoners on Japan’s death row, Masao Akahori knew that his execution would come without warning. The fear made him stiffen at the sound of the guards’ approaching footsteps, wondering whether the clack of boots was a countdown to death or would pass by, fading into the silence of another reprieve.
One morning in the early 1970s, the march stopped outside his cell and a key turned the lock.
“We have come to fetch you,” the guards told him.
Akahori remembers his legs collapsing under him, that five guards had to drag him from his cell. He remembers the nervous whispering when the guards suddenly realized they had come to hang the wrong man.
It was Yamamoto they wanted. In the next cell.
“They put me back, no apology, and went for Yamamoto,” Akahori recalls.
REALLY,
ya THINK???
When we place persons on death row, thay can be there 40+ years, and die of natural causes…At $40,000+ per year for maintenance…THAT we pay per prisoner…
So, while someone IS/WAS supposed to be put to death, we pay for his life style.
I have NEVER made that much money in my LIFE, and I dont get near it NOW that Im on disability. At this time, I get less then minimum wage(alot less)… And my house isnt much bigger then THEIR cell.
AND 60-80% of those in jail, are inside on Drug charges rangeing from posation to distrubtion…
no mercy, if you kill some one you have taken someones rights why should yours be respected
“nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (8th Amend.) must not be a part of Japan’s Constitution.
I think trying to compare the way Japan puts people to death is just a tad bit diffrent from the way the US does. The largest diffrence being people at all times have rights. On the other hand you make the wrong person mad in Japan and you kiss all those rights away.
In Europe we just poision your food
Is that anything like putting fluoride in the water supply?
only for the Serbs in The Hague.
The administering of the death penalty should be done as quickly as possible, I’m not for drawn out torture, but I could care less if those last few seconds of life are also the most painful.
“and ignore how the japanese run roughshod over the most basic of human rights when it comes to criminal issues.”
Oh give me a break. Most of my friends call me a leftist hippy, and even I think that is dumb. People in Japan that do make it out of prison rarely do anything to put themselves back in. They walk the straight and narrow the rest of their lives.
In the US, people are in and out of prison all their lives. They get out, commit a crime again, and back into prison they go.
I’m all for shorter, but MUCH tougher prison terms in the US.
Steve
You are hitting on something I feel strongly about.
Longer prison sentences only make the people outside feel safer. Except for a few, most prisoners will eventually be released. And they are being released with very little support and everything against them. Very few prisoners released are ever given alcohol or drug rehabilitation. Very few ever learn a trade. Very few are given a chance to upgrade their education. And even fewer are taught life skills and anger management. So when they are released, they just as ugly as when they went in, except angrier. But with a whole host of new friends.
For those that want to reduce any appeals, just think about how many innocent people are being locked up. Once charged, the odds are stacked against you. Courts and most juries inevitably take the word of a cop over that of the accused. You need a pretty good lawyer, irrefutable evidence, and deep pockets to impeach a cop. And even then it doesn’t always work. Even when a cop or prosecutor has been shown to have lied, it is extremely rare that they will be charged with any administrative wrongdoing let alone face a criminal charge. Appeal courts will only overturn a verdict if you can prove there was an egregious misconduct of justice, and they don’t do that lightly.
So before we advocate even stiffer sentences, let’s clean up that mess we call a judicial system. Before we start sticking needles in peoples arms, let’s make the appeal process relevant. Let’s save the prison system for those who are truly guilty.
The Coinage Act of 1792 made is a crime punishable by death for a mint officer to embezzle the gold or silver meant to be used in striking coins; and I seriously doubt that their death penalty was as pleasant as ours is today.
The point is that what was Constitutional then (by the people who wrote the thing) is equally Constitutional today. Our statues may be changed as public opinion decides, but the definition of what is Constitutional should not (where it hasn’t been ammended).
Absolutely no one has the right to speak against abortion until they fight for the right-to-life for those that inhabit Earth, regardless of reason, form or context.
If you believe Life is sacred, fight FIRST for the lives that exist.
“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”- Jesus
who’s the babe in the boots?