Japan hangs two prisoners, including first convicted in lay judge trial

[MADem]

Source: JAPAN TIMES

Japan hanged two death-row inmates Friday in the first executions carried out since June and the first under the order of Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki, who took the role in October.

One was Sumitoshi Tsuda, 63, who was convicted in the murder of his landlord and two other people....The second was Kazuyuki Wakabayashi, 39, who was convicted of killing two women in Iwate Prefecture in 2006. He abandoned the victims’ bodies on a mountain....

His defense counsel appealed the ruling to the Tokyo High Court, but the death sentence was finalized in July 2011 after Tsuda withdrew his appeal.

With the latest hangings, the total number of executions under the second Shinzo Abe administration has risen to 14. Abe took power in December 2012.

Read more: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/12/18/national/crime-legal/japan-hangs-two-death-row-inmates-including-first-condemned-lay-judge-trial/#.VnOulhUrIhc

[alfredo]

1. I didn't know they had the death penalty.

[MADem]

2. Yes. They didn't use it much before, but they've taken a turn to the right in recent years.

They don't bother with the injection route--they hang 'em high.

When I lived in Japan I don't remember hearing about any executions. That was a different era, though.

[alfredo]

7. So has Poland. They are moving to Fascism

[Jesus Malverde]

3. Death row inmates don't know when they will die.

The secrecy surrounding executions in Japan has been criticized at home and abroad, with neither death row inmates nor their lawyers and families given advance notice executions, which take place by hanging.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/12/09/national/crime-legal/japan-lawyers-group-slams-inhumane-death-penalty-calls-suspension-national-debate/

Every morning a death row inmate wakes up not knowing if it will be their last day.

From his cell, he heard one of his fellow inmates dragged to the gallows for the first time, an event that he says made him “insane” and caused him to scream so long he was awarded chobatsu: a two-month stint with his hands cuffed so he had to eat like an animal. Every morning after breakfast, between 8 and 8:30 am – when the execution order comes -- the terror began afresh. “The guards would stop at your door, your heart would pound and then they would move on and you could breathe again.”

http://japanfocus.org/-David-McNeill/2402/article.html

[MADem]

6. They do "hard time" in prison there--makes even our unenlightened facilities look like the Ritz.

An AMA account from someone who was detained (not convicted) there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1t09ud/did_time_in_a_japanese_jail_ama/

Post conviction (not much fun):

http://www.japanprobe.com/2012/02/21/a-look-inside-osaka-prison/

[Bonobo]

9. What info in there makes you say it is so bad?

I read them and it sounds quite a lot better than a US prison.

[MADem]

10. Are you joking?

What US pre-trial confinement facility, where a person is being held on suspicion of drug possession, doesn't allow prisoners in a common holding facility to communicate with one another?

What US prisons mandate work and don't let people talk?

These articles aren't talking about isolation facilities--these are "general pop" units.

I would much prefer US prison (which is no picnic, granted) to Japanese ones--they are grim, and psychological torture is a component of their punishment.

[Bonobo]

11. I must have missed the bit of info you are referring to in that Reddit thread somewhere.

Where did it say that they can't talk?

Where is it say they are isolated?

I think he said he wasn't allowed to speak English..

As far as working, I have heard it said that it makes time pass much quicker than just sitting around.

[MADem]

12. Not being allowed to speak in your native language is absurd when you haven't been convicted

of anything. Can't believe you think that's "OK." So much for "Due Process." Did you like the idea of trying to psych a confession out of the unconvicted prisoners, too?

And Japanese prisons do enforce silent hours and mandatory "reflection" on one's crime.

The isolated people are in the Osaka prison video.

There's a word for "mandatory work," you know--we got rid of it in 1865.

Japanese prisons are brutal.

[Bonobo]

13. MADem, not everything is opportunity for you to go off like on people.

I think you think you know a lot about everything and I also think you probably aren't very fun to have a conversation with, so I think I will just say "ta-ta".

[MADem]

14. Who's going off? You've made some extraordinary claims. If you don't want to discuss them, don't.

But don't play "I don't like your tone" games. That's just lame.

[Bonobo]

15. Really? Act like an ass, don't expect people to engage with you.

That's common sense.

Have a great day.

[Bonobo]

16. If you have the courage to question your own culture-bound assumptions, watch this:

[alfredo]

8. That process would drive a person to madness.

[Jnclr89]

4. Japan has the death penalty.

For the first two posters. Read more.

[MADem]

5. What?

Are you a person? Your post makes no sense in context of the OP to which you are responding. "Read more?" Really?