Japanese Man Acquitted after 46 Years on Death Row for Quadruple Murder

MrsCraig Wow, thanks for the extra information M , i never knew that, it's unbelievable and very controversial

telmel USA and Japan are the only G7 countries that still have the Death Penalty, that's maybe what the article meant. It is actually 5 prisoners that have been executed in America this week, wasn't sure if the other ones had gone ahead but they have. Another 7 scheduled before the end of the year.

MrsCraig yes i was shocked when i first read in the original post about only Japan and the USA. But i know a lot of asian countries still have the death penalty.

I believe in places like Saudi Arabia they still have public executions

jms19 yes they do. They still use beheading as their form of Capital Punishment in Saudi Arabia.

Imnotcheap Surely capital punishment stops those who committed those crimes. Whether it is a deterrent is of course debatable, I would say the evidence from many countries shows it is a deterrent but even if it isn't it saves 10s, 100s of millions possibly more. A high security prisoner costs normally about twice as much as a normal prisoner and those cost £52k per year so that is £100k per year and lets say 50 years incarceration is £5 million. Unfortunately there is no statistic for how many Category A prisoners there are but there is approaching 100,000 prisoners in the UK which at £52K per year so is £5.2 billion but of course it will be much more than that due to Category A prisoners plus other costs. Anyway the point is keeping violent murderers in prison long term costs many millions which obviously effects how much can be spent elsewhere.

Imnotcheap So do i I

BonzoBanana They are my thoughts exactly B , the costs are astronomical and do many of these psycho murderers really deserve a life of luxury without paying any bills while other poor people are living on the streets , destitute ?

telmel I think life of luxury might be pushing it a bit but yes they get 3 square meals a day and heated rooms which sadly many on the outside of prison can't afford nowadays. I'd still rather struggle outside than be in prison though. I'm not a believer in sending people who have committed non-violent offences going to prison. Personally as I'm sure I've written many a time I would have them working really hard in farm fields with a ball and chain on their legs and it would be a shorter sentence and any financial loss would be subtracted from their benefits they could claim like pensions if they couldn't claim it from assets, savings etc. In my opinion prison should be mainly for violent offenders. Obviously many thefts do have some element of violence and those would be classed as violent offences but thefts without any violence, shoplifting, stealing parcels from doorstops, fraud etc would not be violent.

BonzoBanana people on death row are also very high security. They have nothing to lose they also have lots of appeals. It's also been proven that the state killing people doesn't deter individuals from doing it.

Imnotcheap How has that been proved because there are so many variables, many countries with strict punishments do have low crime rates. In the UK we keep releasing dangerous evil people back into communities who re-offend often quite quickly those people would find that difficult to do if dead. Do you have a link to a site that claims there is no deterrent? I've occasionally seen such claims on typically anti-death penalty sites but their basis for claiming that is not accurate. However my issue is the system is failing as we become a much poorer country we have very limited resources and the police are constantly having their resources cut as we pile up more and more government debt which has to serviced with interest payments.

Many countries simply have the death penalty due to economic needs to do so and we are getting that way. When an evil murderer is released back into the community you have all the resources of investigating their crime, going through the courts and then again a prison sentence at huge costs. Many of these people aren't your serial killers etc they may be incredibly violent individuals, stabbings etc who somehow got a lenient sentence in the first place.

I saw a statistic that one third of women in prison was due to TV licence evasion/non-payment which is a staggering statistic, the TV Licence shouldn't even exist but non-payment should never result in a prison sentence in my opinion.

We just need to get more realistic about crime and adapt to our current situation.

Pjran They do this deliberately P to punish the killers psychologically , imagine waking up everyday not knowing if it will be your last

It's just a shame when an innocent person has to go through this

telmel let’s hope they compensate him in some way. Dreadful mistake to make.

Pjran Yes i was thinking the same P, although i don't think he will get much from compensation at his age and poor health, the immediate family might though

Pjran it is to allow the prisoner to appeal their sentence and either have it overturned and they get acquitted or the sentence becomes a life sentence without parole. It takes a long time for this process to occur. They need to make sure that the person is actually guilty.

MrsCraig It’s taken 45 years for them to decide. That’s just morally wrong to make anyone wait that length of time.

Pjran I'm not saying the length of time isn't criminal, just that most prisoners on death row are there for more than 10 years before execution. It never happens within a few years.

Pjran Sadly it seems Japan also has corrupt police officers who frame people up or assume guilt rather than doing their job properly. If the death sentence ever came back in this country and it may be a necessity at some point we will need an investigative police force just to check all procedures have been followed and recheck evidence for those who are given the death sentence. This might take 2 or 3 years but still if it can save 50 years of incarceration at huge expense will still save many 100s of millions of pounds. New scientific procedures should make convictions safer but there are always incompetent, corrupt or evil police officers out there.

MelissaLee1 I watched 4 seasons of the neflix documentary 'I am a killer'

It was fascinating to hear about the crimes of murder and hear the prisoners talk about what happened and their feelings about what they did , mainly prisoners in and around Texas as well as other places like missouri

Most had been given the death sentence initially but the law was changed years ago, and depending on certain conditions the death sentences were downgraded to life imprisonment without parole

It amazed me how so many had found God , and were hoping for parole and an eventual release

deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/sentencing-alternatives/life-without-parole

martinlufc5637 there are 56 countries that still have the Death Penalty. USA and Japan are the only G7 countries that have the Death Penalty. I teach about Capital Punishment, so I know lots of useless facts about it .