tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post4653162299529022750..comments2023-10-09T00:45:55.603+09:00Comments on Shisaku: Explaining Japan's Death Penalty to a TexanMTChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-85462982718977191002008-11-24T23:18:00.000+09:002008-11-24T23:18:00.000+09:00Good post.I like to add the, for me, most cruel pa...Good post.<BR/><BR/>I like to add the, for me, most cruel part of death penalty in Japan. That is that the moment your time has come remain unknown until a few hours before the execution. That's cruel to any human. Even a murderer in my view. Family is also informed afterwards. I wonder why this is done like this but even the friendliest Japanese I know have no problem with this.<BR/><BR/>PatAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-56947700895827787642008-11-24T20:37:00.000+09:002008-11-24T20:37:00.000+09:00anonymous - re "paganophobia"Please understand. My...anonymous - re "paganophobia"<BR/><BR/>Please understand. My task was to explain, very quickly, what Japanese attitudes toward the death penalty are...and to do so to opinionated and agitated Texans.<BR/><BR/>Such "paganophobia" as you may detect is the result of my attempt, vain as it may have been, to speak using idioms and ideas my interlocutors could understand.MTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-13837496848649570592008-11-21T23:03:00.000+09:002008-11-21T23:03:00.000+09:00The second part of your explanations is accurate, ...The second part of your explanations is accurate, but the first part frightens me(Yes, literally it frightens me). What a balant paganophobia you display! Are you really Mr. Shisaku?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-92061738487965880952008-11-20T15:00:00.000+09:002008-11-20T15:00:00.000+09:00MTC,About the confession thing, I was not thinking...MTC,<BR/><BR/>About the confession thing, I was not thinking of things like forced confessions. The fact is, confessions are surprisingly often not true even when given completely voluntarily and unasked-for. Police tends to appreciate this; any time you have a high-profile murder they get dozens of people coming forward claiming they did it. There are any number of reasons, including but not limited to delusions, protecting someone, simple attention-seeking, "suicide by court" or any number of reasons.<BR/><BR/>Statistically it is inevitable that now and again somebody with an actual connection to the crime will also be prone to give a false confession. In some jurisdictions a confession is indeed not considered enough to convict somebody of a serious crime; other, corroborative evidence is needed.<BR/><BR/>Lack of a deterrent is a result based on actual outcomes, not on belief in its effectiveness. Yes, belief in something can make it effective, but effectiveness is shown to be lacking. Remember, it doesn't matter if most ordinary people say they are deterred; most ordinary people would not commit a heinous crime in the first place. And once you're in such mental dire straits that you are indeed capable of doing so, the dim prospect of a possible execution, as opposed to life in prison, is not likely to make any difference in your acts here and now. Again, it's the results that count, not the intentions.Jan Morenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-51989741607698781972008-11-20T11:17:00.000+09:002008-11-20T11:17:00.000+09:00Jill - While a cross-time analysis makes me look f...Jill - <BR/><BR/>While a cross-time analysis makes me look foolish, an international comparative of the states that have abolished the death penalty would find a correlation between Christianity as the dominant religious tradition and abolition.<BR/><BR/>See the list of countries here:<BR/><BR/>http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-eng<BR/><BR/>Herr Morén - <BR/><BR/>The lack-of-a-deterrent effect would be hard to argue. Polling shows that most Japanese citizens believe that the death penalty has a deterrent effect. If they <I>believe</I> that it is a deterrent, that makes it one, doesn't it?MTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-64392440235955441092008-11-20T10:45:00.000+09:002008-11-20T10:45:00.000+09:00Unless I am mis-understanding your logic, I'm not ...Unless I am mis-understanding your logic, I'm not sure that Christianity (either in countries that lack a separation between church and state or in countries where a majority of the population adheres to Christianity) has much relevance to a state-level policy such as this. <BR/>A quick single country across time comparison (of say, England) or a single country with a high degree of religiosity (say, the US) undermines the argument.<BR/>Although you'd probably find a correlation between death penalty and non-Christian countries, other factors probably account for this.<BR/>-JillAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-86852522442113081162008-11-19T23:47:00.000+09:002008-11-19T23:47:00.000+09:00Janne,I'm not sure, but your logic seems to be imp...Janne,<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure, but your logic seems to be implying that confessions shouldn't carry much weight. That's perfectly sensible, especially due to the temptation for the police to torture or unreasonably pressure a suspect into confessing to a crime he didn't commit. But your argument doesn't seem as strong in the situations that the post lists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-38388006083227254152008-11-19T23:39:00.000+09:002008-11-19T23:39:00.000+09:00One argument against the death penalty in the U.S....One argument against the death penalty in the U.S. is that life in prison is simply cheaper. I can not imagine this is the case in Japan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-38959455204641171362008-11-19T23:15:00.000+09:002008-11-19T23:15:00.000+09:00Good points, and I agree that to the extent death ...Good points, and I agree that to the extent death penalty can ever be applied well, Japan does do so.<BR/><BR/>I am nevertheless an opponent, for two reasons. On occasion an obviously, clearly guilty - freely given confession and all - convict turns out not to have done the crime. They protect somebody, or they have their own, murky internal reasons for wanting to be found guilty. With a prison sentence you can annul the ruling after the fact. Not so with a death sentence.<BR/><BR/>The second reason is that careful analysis show that it has no deterrent effect compared to a "real" life sentence (comparisons, across times or societies, is murky and fraught with uncertainties but this seems to be the solid conclusion). And it can generate the opposite behavior, an indirect suicide by means of the judicial system.<BR/><BR/>As an addendum, it doesn't even seem costs are any lower than life imprisonment, since the incarceration time is long in either case, and the gravity of the punishment warrants extensive work in the judicial system and heavy security arrangements and upkeep of facilities.<BR/><BR/>I am largely against it for pragmatic reasons in other words.Jan Morenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.com