Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/06/japan-cult-leader-executed-ove.html
…
5 Likes
I don’t approve of the death penalty, but in this case, meh.
25 Likes
Agreed. I oppose capital punishment, but this case isn’t the hill I’d choose to fight it on.
17 Likes
…hydrochloric acid transported in large glass bottles labelled “hand soap”.
Tricky - no wonder the authorities never suspected a thing!
8 Likes
What took them so long?
5 Likes
Probably appeal process.
Personally I have no qualms about death penalties in cases like these. My problem with the concept, at least in the US, is it is too often used as leverage for false confessions, and too many people have been exonerated while on death row.
But when you have a pretty clear cut case like this… well… bye.
10 Likes
What a garbage person. Also Japan has executions? Did not know.
Edit: From another article
Japan hangs several people in an average year but keeps the executions highly secretive. The country started disclosing the names of the executed and their locations only 11 years ago. Those executed learn their fate only when they are taken to the gallows. There are 117 convicts on death row.
Also about the cult leader:
During his eight-year trial, Asahara talked incoherently, occasionally babbling in broken English, and never acknowledged his responsibility or offered meaningful explanations.
He was on death row for about 14 years. His family has said he was a broken man, constantly wetting and soiling the floor of his prison cell and not communicating with his family or lawyers. They had requested his mental treatment a retrial.
6 Likes
I also believe they still do their executions by hanging.
4 Likes
Yeah i edited some additional info into my post that i found related to the current hangings. But seems like Japan is fairly secretive over their executions.
3 Likes
Same, except in the case of corrupt leaders of nations… It’s no deterrent for crimes of passion, but it might work for that. At the very least, it’s proper comeuppance for the likes of 45…
2 Likes
I oppose it for additional reasons. I don’t believe the State should commit premeditated murder, even of murderers. But that’s on top of things like the appalling stats that come out of the innocence project and the simple fact that I believe the penal system should be rehabilitative where possible and protect society where not, not to exact vengeance. But as I said, this isn’t the hill where I’d make my stand.
12 Likes
And yet confusing HCl (pH=3) with hand soap (pH=9) is such a basic error.
20 Likes
Crazy to think it was possible for some civilian group to make sarin in '93. It is probably easier now, so we should be seeing other attacks, but no.
1 Like
I am convinced that there are crimes (and individuals) that absolutely deserve death penalty.
I am against it because it is impossible (and i mean ontologically impossible) to have absolute certainty.
“Whithout any reasonable doubt” is a poor substitute that we have to accept to make things working.
5 Likes
As am I. I simply don’t believe anyone deserves to carry out the sentence, even collectively. A lot of my views on criminal justice are less about protecting the convicted and more about things I don’t think anyone, even the state, should be allowed to do.
11 Likes
I’m strongly against the death penalty because if they can keep people in prison for 20+ years then they can keep them there forever.
But I also don’t care too much about what happens to people that hurt so many innocent people.
4 Likes
I do find the Japanese execution room/gallows to be more aesthetically pleasing than any
similar accommodations provided for in US. 
It does almost look as if the floor is carpeted.
3 Likes
I used to be pretty gung-ho for capital punishment but now think it’s mostly too much trouble. That said, it ought to be preserved for folks who murder (or attempt murder) in the double digits. These guys? Timothy McVeigh? I’m good with that.
2 Likes
including hydrochloric acid transported in large glass bottles labelled “hand soap”.
That’s a one stop wash.
6 Likes
Because of terrorists, explosives manufacturers, rogue governments, and drug chemists, most of the chemical precursors to make “bad things” are heavily controlled. So, no, it is actually much more difficult now.
4 Likes
