wizardofoz01
TNPer
I actually had the idea of posting this a couple weeks ago, but I never got around to doing it and the other "Justice" thread started me thinking on it again.
I read in article in the LA Times from a month or two ago about Japan's death row, which I found more than a little disturbing. I'm not trying to comment about capital punishment in general (we've been through that in previous discussions), but to comment on how a civilization in this day and age can use methods that (in my opinion) come perilously close to torture. I'm not one to exaggerate, and I'll present the facts that I read in the article. Again, not commenting on the death penalty, but merely how one country's implementation of it seems quite flawed.
The irony of it is that Japan's murder rate is fairly low, and there's less than 100 death row inmates right now -- however, (and this is my first point) none of their executions are scheduled. Whenever the Justice Minister stamps their execution order is when they're going to be executed. Indeed, no one (save prison officials) even knows that person X will be executed, not even that person's family members. They are not invited nor allowed to witness the actual execution, and aren't NOTIFIED of the execution until afterwards, when the government literally calls them to pick up the body. Am I the only one that thinks this lack of notification comes perilously close to simple government-sponsored murder?
The more severe part of this in my opinion is that recent Justice Ministers have been reluctant to sign death orders -- so on one side you have a public that supports the death penalty (even more so than in the US), but on the other side you have public officials that don't feel like handing it out. The article makes the point that this results in a fate worse than death -- essentially death row inmates are being condemned to life/decades in prison, with the possibility of death. This psychological strain, knowing any moment that guards will haul you away, can of course be pretty severe. What makes it worse is that prisons housing death row inmates seem to take extreme measures to keep them "calm" -- lights are on 24/7, and sleep masks are disallowed because the cord may be used to inflict self-harm. The article mentions that many prisoners resort to taking sleeping pills smuggled in by friends/family. It wouldn't be so bad if some kind of mental stimulation is allowed -- but books are strictly monitored and exercise is restricted to half an hour every couple of weeks. According to the article, even when prisoners try to do exercises by themselves in their cell, they are told to stop because the noise might "disturb' other prisoners.
It seems to me that the wardens have confused calmness with an utter lack of physical or mental stimulation, which produces anxiety, not calm. No one can deny that their method keeps control, it's just unsettling. It's only a few steps removed from injecting inmates with drugs to keep them calm.
I read in article in the LA Times from a month or two ago about Japan's death row, which I found more than a little disturbing. I'm not trying to comment about capital punishment in general (we've been through that in previous discussions), but to comment on how a civilization in this day and age can use methods that (in my opinion) come perilously close to torture. I'm not one to exaggerate, and I'll present the facts that I read in the article. Again, not commenting on the death penalty, but merely how one country's implementation of it seems quite flawed.
The irony of it is that Japan's murder rate is fairly low, and there's less than 100 death row inmates right now -- however, (and this is my first point) none of their executions are scheduled. Whenever the Justice Minister stamps their execution order is when they're going to be executed. Indeed, no one (save prison officials) even knows that person X will be executed, not even that person's family members. They are not invited nor allowed to witness the actual execution, and aren't NOTIFIED of the execution until afterwards, when the government literally calls them to pick up the body. Am I the only one that thinks this lack of notification comes perilously close to simple government-sponsored murder?
The more severe part of this in my opinion is that recent Justice Ministers have been reluctant to sign death orders -- so on one side you have a public that supports the death penalty (even more so than in the US), but on the other side you have public officials that don't feel like handing it out. The article makes the point that this results in a fate worse than death -- essentially death row inmates are being condemned to life/decades in prison, with the possibility of death. This psychological strain, knowing any moment that guards will haul you away, can of course be pretty severe. What makes it worse is that prisons housing death row inmates seem to take extreme measures to keep them "calm" -- lights are on 24/7, and sleep masks are disallowed because the cord may be used to inflict self-harm. The article mentions that many prisoners resort to taking sleeping pills smuggled in by friends/family. It wouldn't be so bad if some kind of mental stimulation is allowed -- but books are strictly monitored and exercise is restricted to half an hour every couple of weeks. According to the article, even when prisoners try to do exercises by themselves in their cell, they are told to stop because the noise might "disturb' other prisoners.
It seems to me that the wardens have confused calmness with an utter lack of physical or mental stimulation, which produces anxiety, not calm. No one can deny that their method keeps control, it's just unsettling. It's only a few steps removed from injecting inmates with drugs to keep them calm.
