Amnesty Int'l demands immediate stop to Japan's executions

Saturday 12th April, 04:10 AM JST

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8 Comments

DarkWolfMage320 at 01:24 PM JST - 12th April

Yes, i have heard that there are way too many exacutions in Japan. don't know if it's whether alot of Japanese commit many crimes or if they just execute people for other reasons besides thte majors, but wow.
Desiderata1967 at 02:15 PM JST - 12th April

DarkWolf - I suggest you read up on Japan a bit more before making such comments. The Japanese legal system is a farce, although they are making efforts to improve it, slowly but surely. As for the death sentence - Let the punishment fit the crime I say. The only trouble with that is, Japan has a sickening record of conviction and has been known to hang innocent people. Why they always find out the person was not the murderer BEFORE they hang them is beyond me. Japan's conviction rate needs a serious overhaul. But, as is the case, Japan doesn't listen to the rest of the world (only have to look at their ignorance concerning whaling and equality at work to see this)and after living here for nine years, there's a lot of truth when people say they really do love themselves and think they are unique to this planet!
VoXman at 08:33 PM JST - 12th April

Wow! 7 so far in 2008? Amazing! What out they may beat my home state of Texas for the most in one Year!
Patrick Smash at 01:18 AM JST - 13th April

I don't approve of execution anyway, but as another poster says, the legal system that convicts and hangs these people is a disgrace, and proves Japan is not a 1st world country.

Long incarceration periods in which confessions are forced by officers using mild torture in untapes interviews/interrogations. There's physical and verbal torture, a lack of legal assistance, sleep deprivation, almost no food, a 3-minute shower once every 5 days, no air conditioning, sensory deprivation; the list goes on and on.

Then there's no trial of course, just 3 judges who chose to believe the forced confession, which leads to a 99.97% conviction rate. This system is so dreadful that it should not be allowed to send someone to the gallows, and the politicians like Hatoyama who sem to get off on this, know the failures of the system all too well.
vukodlok at 02:21 PM JST - 13th April

Criminals should be afraid of punishment. Where is Amnesty International when innocent people are murdered on the streets of Los Angeles for no reason by roving gangs? Is that what they want for the rest of the world? To treat murderers with kid gloves? Tuck them into bed with warm milk and cookies?
Patrick Smash at 02:38 PM JST - 13th April

vukodlok

You don't understand. The justice system here has a conviction rate over 99.9%. You wouldn't think innocent black people should be strung up because of a legal system that automatically convicted almost everyone it decided to arrest. That's effectively what happens here. There was no burden on prosecutors to prove guilt, therefore many, many people in Japanese prisons are innocent. The justice system needs an overhaul, unless you agree with the concept of executing the innocent to install fear in the population, for some greater good that I fail to comprehend.
VoXman at 07:55 PM JST - 13th April

Hanging is a barbaric, spiteful form of execution. And the fact that they do it in secret without knowledge of who was executed published as they do in other countries serves no purpose, nor a deterant to crime if no one knows about it. It is as Dr. Stranglove said "the only way a Doomday bomb can be an effective deterent is if you tell somebody about it".
vukodlok at 01:00 PM JST - 15th April

No innocent person anywhere of any race, creed, or color should be put to death. Here in Los Angeles a young black man was murdered by a Hispanic gang member that was in the country illegally, where is Amnesty Internationals condemnation? That young man was an athlete with no gang ties at all. Although Japan might be at the one extreme with a 99.9% conviction rate, it can be reformed if done right. The other extreme is the U.S. with innocent people dying everyday at the hands of criminals with no fear of retribution. This is equally unjust. How bold do you think these gangs would be if the U.S. brought BlackWater back from Iraq and unleashed them on the gangs?