Japan hangs 3 convicted murderers

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan executed three convicted murderers Tuesday, including a man who found his victims when they posted messages on suicide Web sites.

Japan, along with the United States, is one of the few industrialized countries that still has capital punishment. There is little public outcry against the death penalty, but the country has been criticized by rights groups such as Amnesty International and the main Japanese bar association.

Criminals can be left on death row for years, and executions — all carried out by hanging — are highly secretive. Inmates do not know when they will be executed, while lawyers and family are only told after the fact.

On Tuesday, Hiroshi Maeue, 40, was hanged at a detention center in Osaka, about 260 miles (420 kilometers) west of Tokyo, the justice ministry said in a press release. He was convicted of crimes including three murders in 2005 involving victims who posted messages on Web sites about committing suicide.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3xDNvN-D7hqcqr6LxFbDeGz7HHgD99N9OG01

[Regret My New Name]

1. wow, I didn't know Japan still had a death sentence.

[slackmaster]

10. A lot of people don't know that

It's used pretty rarely and they never make a big deal out of it.

[hack89]

17. They execute about 3 a year with about 100 still on death row.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Japan#Executions_since_1993

[WriteDown]

2. Interesting...

I suggest no one gets in trouble with the law while in Japan.

Also, if you kill people who are posting on a suicide website, is that murder? :evilgrin:

[AlphaCentauri]

13. That must be the Japanese version of Dr. Kevorkian n/t

[ProudDad]

3. They've got a long way to go to catch up with Texas

USAmerika is Number One!

USAmerika is Number One!

This is a corrosive blight on Japanese society though.

State sanctioned murder always is.

[Rebubula]

8. Meh...

...Texas is Bush League compared to China and Saudi Arabia. But they have money and oil so we look the other way...

[Libertas1776]

4. They still execute in Japan...and by hanging no less

and yet they have a 20 year statute of limitations on murder if I am not mistaken. So if you manage to beat the police and the gallows for two decades, you can pretty much return and write a nook about it or something. Great little criminal justice system they have there. :sarcasm: Our system ain't perfecto in the least, but at least we don't have a statute on limitations on freaking MURDER!

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. Hanging is probably less cruel a method of execution than lethal injection, done properly.

As far as swift, painless death goes, a long-drop hanging with a properly measured rope and properly placed knot is right up there with beheading (because the combination of the inertial force of the body at the end of the drop, and the placement of the knot right behind the left ear, lead to the spine being severed at the level of the third cervical vertebra).

[WriteDown]

6. You do know that sometimes it doesn't work though right?

Sometimes it becomes a slow hanging.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. Sure, sometimes it doesn't work.

Becuase sometimes there's a mistake made when measuring the rope. Sometimes it's too short, sometimes too long (which can lead and has led to instant decapitation when the trap is opened). Done properly though it's almost invariably instantaneous and painless.

[Paladin]

9. Yeah, That "Done Properly" Thing Is The Problem..... (n/t)

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. I'm not advocating for capital punishment.

Just stating a fact. There probably isn't a method of execution that isn't going to have some failures no matter how much it's intended to be quick and painless.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. 300 ton pneumatic press.

Little gallows humor for ya <rimshot>

[Endangered Specie]

15. ummm... TNT?

[24601]

16. Yeah. When I go, I want it to be quietly in my sleep like Grandpa

Not screaming and yelling like his passengers.

[smirkymonkey]

20. Deep thoughts.....

:rofl:

[MrSlayer]

14. What goes around comes around.

Kill people and you may be killed in turn. Good for them.

[proteus_lives]

18. If their society accepts it.

I highly doubt their is much debate over the DP in Japan. Hanging is cheaper and if done right, painless.

[Startup]

19. I'm surprised they didn't just use the Death Note. nt

[wuushew]

21. L > Kira