Amnesty International says Japan executes mentally ill prisoners

Friday 11th September, 07:10 AM JST

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sakurasuki at 11:13 AM JST - 11th September

Just wondering do they have a guidebook : "How to make your inmates being Insane"
kirakira25 at 12:02 PM JST - 11th September

99.9% is mainly because they admit to the crime

just because they admit to it doesn`t mean they did it.
OssanAmerica at 12:16 PM JST - 11th September

99.9% is mainly because they admit to the crime just because they admit to it doesn`t mean they did it.

Yes that's true. The admission is usually combined with evidence.
TheQuestion at 12:33 PM JST - 11th September

What kind of standards for mental insability are they using? Hell, by the way it sounds my OCD should keep me out of prison because I'm mentally ill. Pfft, if your lucid enough to commit the crime than you should expect swift retribution.
ivarwind at 12:56 PM JST - 11th September

"Pfft, if your lucid enough to commit the crime than you should expect swift retribution."

That's the whole point! But you missed it. If the death penalty is to be carried out, it should not involve first subjecting the convict to twenty years of daily mental torture, driving them to madness.

This is old news by the way, AI are not the first to note the mentally debilitating effects of the Japanese death row.

As for the deterring effect, there is none - or rather, if there is any correlation at all, it is the other way, with executions resulting in a slight increase in the murder rate in society.
Simp at 01:09 PM JST - 11th September

or they can just be nice to them a couple days before they execute them. Take'em to Disneyland or something like that.
bobbafett at 01:49 PM JST - 11th September

Execute them. take their DNA out of the gene pool.
captainjohann at 02:35 PM JST - 11th September

What do you do with Taliban who are ready to die(they make sucide vedio) and then kill innocents.? The terrorist Kasab who carried out80 killings in Mumbai cannot be hanged as per Amnesty. But he wants to be hanged as a path to heaven. Now what do civilised do to these fundemntalists?
Infernus at 03:03 PM JST - 11th September

I think that executing mentally ill prisoners is just fine. If them murdering someone before they were on death row was sane, then what are they capable of now that their crazy? I think they should, however, execute them faster. While they sit in jail for years and years, tax dollars are paying for them to rot in their cells, when they could go to far more useful things. Not executing murderers is even worse, what if they live for decades in jail, the amount of taxes wasted on them is ridiculous. I know the United States spends more money on prisons then they do education. So I say execute the murderers and perverts of society, their victims didn't get a second chance, why should they?
BigInJapan at 03:17 PM JST - 11th September

Execute them. take their DNA out of the gene pool.

But take some DNA sample first, so 20 years later at least you can prove if they were innocent... :)
Midnightpromise at 03:49 PM JST - 11th September

A "normal" person would not commit a crime heinous enough to warrant the death penalty would they? Even if it was just for that brief moment of passion or anger during which they acted insane. Would they then not all be considered "insane"? So regardless of supposed mental health, one must either be for, or against, capital punishment. This inane argument over mental capacity is simply a diversion from the real issue at hand.
browny1 at 06:04 PM JST - 11th September

Killing Killers is questionable.

However, Torturing Killers for 10, 20, 30+ years and then Killing them, is surely a reflection on a seriously questionable society.
sharky1 at 08:17 PM JST - 11th September

It has been proven that the death penalty does not prevent crime, however, it can prevent overcrowding...
usaexpat at 11:01 PM JST - 11th September

I always thought the argument that executing the mentally ill was inhumane was kind of funny. If someone is mentally ill and commits a heinous crime how is being crazy a get out of jail free card? Remove them from the gene pool, just a shame you can't do it before they murder and dismember innocent people.
dolphingirl at 02:41 PM JST - 13th September

Browny1: I agree with you. An eye for an eye mentality seems barbaric to me as does hanging someone. Keeping a person in solitary confinement for decades and driving them crazy is just plain torture. Surely if the person wasn't mentally ill before, they would be after that.

Besides, of these 102 people on death row, isn't it possible that a couple of them are not guilty? We shouldn't be so quick to say 'kill them all'. The death penalty doesn't actually accomplish anything but perhaps makes some people feel better because they've gotten revenge.

I would like to think that we are humane human beings who have some respect for life; even the lives of those who have commited murder. Can't we find a better way to ensure public safety? Like maybe preventing murders from happening in the first place.