Serial child killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, 2 others executed

Tuesday 17th June, 11:14 AM JST

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LFRAgain at 01:43 PM JST - 18th June

And more and more countries are looking favorably upon the implementation of strict Sharia Law. More and more countries are looking to increase burning CO2 emitting-coal to generate electricity. More and more countries are demanding the right to possess nuclear technology. What's your point here exactly? Because everyone else is doing it, Japan should tow the line?

I don't say that I can't see the merits of banning executions, particularly with regard to the possibility that innocent people may be sentenced to such an irreversible fate. People are locked away mistakenly for rapes they never committed, but no one is clamoring to repeal prison irrevocable prison sentences for such despicable crimes. Thinks are never black or white. There are cases in which removing the problem from society permanently is the most viable solution acceptable to the People.

Since banishment is no longer an option (Australia's been taken), there are few other alternatives. Judging by the support capital punishment continues to receive in many nations, including some of the most heavily and densely populated nations in the world, life sentences clearly don't satisfy the public's needs - the need for security, the need for reaffirmation of basic social tenets, and the need for, yes, justice, all in cases of extreme brutality like Miyazaki's crimes.

In countries in which capital punishment is accepted, the people of those States have chosen to create and follow a different Social Contract. In Japan, the People overwhelmingly feel that a brutal, remorseless killer has no place in society whatsoever, including at the expense of taxpayers in perpetual imprisonment.

I ask you this: Who gives us the right to dictate to an entire nation how they carry out justice to satisfy the demands and needs of citizens of representative governments?
Zen_Builder at 01:49 PM JST - 18th June

WHO is about talking anybody dictating anything.

You guys really start to read and rely to what is posted and stop taking things out of context to suit your own needs and agendas.

I am talking about trends and worldwide changes but some people are so opposed to anything that goes against their views that it is sad.
rtrhead1 at 02:12 PM JST - 18th June

You aren't really just "talking" about trends and worldwide changes. You are implying that Japan should follow in their footsteps. The questions that you pose go both ways. What gives us the right to execute? What also gives us the right to imprison for their natural life? Why should a killer like this guy be executed? Why shouldn't he be? Yes, I can understand your point. An innocent person may be sentanced to death, and until we become perfect, that chance will never be completely diminished. However, an innocent person may be sentanced to the rest of his natural life in prison, then he dies there from old age, and is later exonerated. Tell me the difference. Either way he is sentenced to death. However in this case, where guilt is proven, why should he be put in prison forever? The chance for escape will always be there. The chance for his rehab will always be zero.

And to touch on your statement about my agression, yes, I have lots of it when you talk about trash that would kill children, or anyone, and do to them what he did. Yes, I understand perfectly well what would happen to me after. And unlike some here, I would gladly pay that price. Would it bring the child back? No. But, it would ensure that the individual who did it would never do it to someone else's loved one, due to whatever reason. Mistrial, esceape, etc. I can also pretty much guarantee that the punishment in that case would not be capitol punishment.
keech2 at 02:15 PM JST - 18th June

Gentlepeople,

I have been enjoying your discussion. Very interesting. Just to let you know, I am against the death penalty. In an imperfect legal system, the death penalty should not be used. There are very few cases where there is absolute proof of guilt and in a system that relies on confessions, obtained by almost any means necessary, abuse can and does run rampant. Someone asked how the people who were against the death penalty would react if it was their children or loved ones who were killed, wouldn't they want vengeance. My question is: Would you support the death penalty if your child or loved one was the person who had a committed a vicious murder/murders? Or would you beg for their lives?
LFRAgain at 02:18 PM JST - 18th June

“You guys?” There's no one here but you and I. Don't try to validate your position by creating the illusion of being ganged up upon. It's just you and I.

Furthermore, are you suggesting I don't read widely enough? Awfully presumptuous of you. Or is it that even though I may read the same things you likely do, including a wide variety of reports from Amnesty International, I just don’t always agree with them (or you)?

Grow up a little. Deal with the fact that not everyone is going to be in your corner, regardless of what website they visit. Not everyone is going to subscribe to your particular brand of right versus wrong. That doesn’t make them wrong, or morally bankrupt, or bad. It just makes them different. You present the argument against capital punishment as universally accepted. I’m correcting you by explain that it is not. Deal with it.

“. . . .but some people are so opposed to anything that goes against their views that it is sad.”

Say this to yourself aloud a few times see if you can find the underlying absurdity of it. I’m opposed to the manufacture and implementation of cluster bombs. It goes against my views. Is my adamant refusal to endorse the use of cluster bombs therefore “sad”? Or are things only sad when they go against your viewpoints? How incredibly conceited.

Here’s a suggestion: Stick to the argument at hand. Stop the amateur psycho-analysis of other posters (To rtrhead1: “I sense a LOT of aggression in you.”) This isn’t about you. It isn’t about me. It isn’t about other posters. It’s about a nation’s right to self-determination. If Japan decides that the death penalty is an acceptable form of punishment (81% say “yea”), then that’s just the way is goes for now. Shaking your virtual head and being “sad” serves few other purposes than to highlight your inability to face differences of opinion.
rtrhead1 at 04:27 PM JST - 18th June

keech, yes, I would support it. If they did it, why would I beg for their lives? Who begged for the lives of the ones they took? If someone that I knew and loved did something like Miyazaki did, and it was proven, and they were sentenced to death, of course it would devestate me. However, they did it. They get the punishment that is doled out. I am done debating this topic. I understand that some people don't believe in it for whatever reason. I do believe in it. Is our system perfect? No. However, we do the best we can given our situations. I would rather see a proven, convicted murderer and torturer given death, than taken care of in prison forever. And before anyone comes with that crap about how much it costs to execute someone, ask yourself this: Why does it cost so much? The actualy cost isn't much. It is someone lining their pockets. Thats it. A 10 ft piece of good rope costs what, $10? That's really all you need to execute. Forget injections, electric chairs, and gas. A short drop and a sudden stop for the worst of the worst.
keech2 at 11:04 PM JST - 18th June

rtr, thank you for your response. I appreciate your answer. However, until the possibility that an innocent person would never be put death is removed and the system is fairly used, I will continue to be opposed to the death penalty. If you really are concerned about cost, a bullet to the back of the head is probably cheaper than the rope.
rtrhead1 at 08:08 AM JST - 19th June

I can also appreciate the concern for the possibility of an innocent person being put to death. However, as I said above, what about the innocent person that gets a life sentence and ends up dying in prison? The possiblity of an innocent being put to death or put in prison for life (which results in death) will NEVER be completely gone. Just can't happen. We are human, and there is no chance. We can only strive for perfection knowing that we will never attain it. And I am all for a bullet to the head. But in the end, the rope ends up being cheaper. You know, reduce, reuse, recycle?
WilliB at 01:02 PM JST - 19th June

There is no question of innocence in this case. I am glad that the parents of the girls now have closure and don`t have to live with the thought that this cretin will be relaesed into the population again one day.
andrewfx51 at 06:27 AM JST - 20th June

My question is: Would you support the death penalty if your child or loved one was the person who had a committed a vicious murder/murders? Or would you beg for their lives?

I would beg for their lives. I realise the flaws of capital punishment, and am glad to have been born in a country in which it has been abolished. That being said, I can't help but think that some criminals violate their right to live. I finish with a quote from the movie 'The Boondock Saints' available in Japan under the title 「処刑人」

CONNOR Weird, huh?... Know what I think is weird? Decent men with loving families go home every day after work. They turn on the news and see rapists, murderers, and child molesters all getting out of prison... Little girls catchin' stray bullets in their heads, playin' hopscotch in their front yards. And everyone thinks the same thing...Someone should just go kill those motherf%#@$

I don't support vigilantism, as that can be as flawed as the legal system, but sometimes they draw one's empathy, and that of society as a whole.
PrinceskaNo1 at 01:08 PM JST - 20th June

This man was very sick, mentally sick. A state that kills sick people is sick.
flammenwerfer at 05:53 PM JST - 20th June

very sick? yeah he was very sick - evil sick, but the man was not insane, he knew what he was doing, he enjoyed it and never showed remorse. He had a Dissociative identity disorder - think Gollum/Smeagol from Lord of the Rings. Both Gollum and Miyazaki knew exactly what the were doing and thats why the judge never bought into Miyazaki insanity plea.
Molenir at 04:52 AM JST - 21st June

This man was very sick, mentally sick. A state that kills sick people is >sick.

Actually, thats something I've never understood. Why should it matter if the guy is nuts or not? If he does the crime, then crazy or not, he should pay for it. Its not about punishment, but rather about justice. Not only for the victims, but for those left behind, and society as well.

As you can probably tell, I'm strongly in favor of the death penalty. The minuscule possibility that someone may be wrongfully sentenced to death is heavily outweighed by the needs of Justice. And between killing a person by hanging, or killing a person by having them rot in a cell for 50 years, I prefer the rope. Its a lot cheaper, and provides better closure for the family and friends. And gives no chance that they'll ever get out and kill someone else.
PepinGalarga at 06:43 PM JST - 22nd June

"fast pace of executions"?

it took nearly two decades (and million$$$ of taxpayer money) to off these guys. one of them almost died of old age!
farhaan at 08:19 PM JST - 22nd June

PrinceskaNo1

This man was very sick, mentally sick. A state that kills sick people is sick.

Even if he is sick he has no right to live a single moment. he is danger to society and should be executed to save many lives. And whoever oppose his death sentence they should take him to their homes and keep him safe with lots of love.