Is this more or less humane?

by  Tyler Cowen in

Inmates on death row are not told when they will be executed until the last minute – a procedure Japanese officials say prevents panic among inmates – and their family members and lawyers are informed only afterward, as are the news media.

And this:

The inmate is handcuffed and blindfolded before entering the execution room, officials said. Three prison wardens push separate buttons, only one of which releases the trapdoor [for hanging] – but they never find out which one. Wardens are given a bonus of about $230 every time they attend an execution.

The full story is here, interesting throughout.  The murder conviction rate in Japan is 99 percent, some of which is likely due to false or pressured confessions.

Comments

BB

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"Some" of the 99% conviction-rate "likely" due to false confessions? Gotta love TC!

Ari Kohen

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More or less human than what? Than the way we do it here? I think no matter which way you go, executing people isn't humane -- it's killing -- and it can't be made humane (though we seem unwilling to admit it and hope that if we keep changing the kinds of drugs we use it might get better).

In our system, it seems fairly clear that what we do amounts to psychological torture, as we set an execution date so that a countdown clock gets started on a condemned person's life. And then, of course, due to the various legal challenges, that clock gets paused, reset, and restarted a few times. Each time the inmate (and his family) has to prepare for the end, only to think that maybe there will be a reprieve ... and maybe there won't be.

In the Japanese case, it's hard to imagine that someone could be whisked out of his cell in the middle of the night, put to death by hanging without any notification (of the inmate, the family, or attorneys), and then that anyone could call it justice. To go further and to claim that it prevents panic amongst the inmates -- "We're doing this to make it better for you" -- is pretty lame; what it does, in reality, is that it spares prison officials from having to deal with the difficult realities that go along with killing people.

To suggest that the Japanese method is somehow less torturous is to suggest that there's some way we can disable dangerous people, lock them up safely behind bars, wait a little while, and then kill them ... in a humane manner. There simply isn't such a way.

J

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“I called for proper disclosure in the hope that it spurs debate over the death penalty and criminal sentencing,† Ms. Chiba, who opposes the death penalty, said at a news conference this month"

One of the more bizarre traits of death penalty opponents is the belief that this sort of "disclosure" is going to reduce public support for the death penalty.

Viktor Brech

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I second Jim's argument, even though I am not sure why I feel this way.

Even better would be to just ask the detainee how they want to have their death sentence administered.

len

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Even better would be to just ask the detainee how they want to have their death sentence administered.

By extreme old age, perhaps. Or by schoolgirls.

Constant

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When we see percentages as high as 99%, one hypothesis we should seriously consider is that what we're seeing is a sham. For example, if the alleged president of a country wins 99% of the vote, one hypothesis we should seriously consider is that the election was a sham. And similarly with the Japanese conviction rate.

Which is not to say that Japanese justice is a sham, only that the trial may be a sham - or, if you prefer, a formality, a rubber-stamping, and that the actual process of justice begins and ends before the rubber-stamp trial takes place.

An explanation immediately comes to mind. Japan was an alien society, about as alien as they come, when we imposed an American-style system of government on it. What may be happening is that the Japanese have been going through the motions of following American-style procedures, but are in fact following very different procedures which better resemble the procedures that Japan had historically followed before we imposed our American-style government on it.

TGGP

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Mark Kleiman was asked why Europe doesn't have the death penalty but the U.S and most of east asia do. He said it was because of the power highly educated civil servants have there. So asked the GSS what people think of the death penalty by education. Pretty high support overall. The highest support is among people who graduated from highschool but have no college, the lowest is among people with less than middleschool.

I also prefer hanging & firing squad. Good traditional methods of execution. Fred Leuchter discusses the design of execution equipment, along with his holocaust denial, in the documentary "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter":
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=654178281151939378#
His stance is similar to Temple Grandin's. He accepts that we are going to kill (convicts in his case, livestock in hers) but thinks it should be done humanely.

J

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"Or J, do you believe that a majority are as strong in support of the the death penalty as you are?"

I believe a majority are considerably stronger supporters of the death penalty than I am. This is true not only in Japan, but in Europe (http://motherjones.com/mojo/2006/01/are-europeans-against-death-penalty). I'm interested in your thoughts on the subject though; do you believe more exposure to the execution process really reduces support for the death penalty, and if so, what is the basis of that belief?

"Well, as there's quite a number of people who enjoyed eating meat until they learned of the details as to how it actually made its way to their table"

Not really; about 7% of this country's population is vegetarian, which is to say vegetarianism is extremely unusual. If the percentage of people you know who are vegetarian significantly exceeds that, I'd argue your social group is unrepresentative of the general population. On that and, most likely, other issues.

"it's not unreasonable to assume that there are quite a number of people who enjoy the presumed benefits of the death penalty until they actually learn about the details of killing another human being"

No, it is unreasonable to assume that.

Wrenkin

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7% of anything is not "extremely unusual". It means if you're having a reasonably-sized dinner party you should prepare a vegetarian option, since there is a good chance a guest will be a vegetarian.

Steve

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Interesting post and comments, as always. As an American citizen who is a permanent resident of Japan I thought the following information might shed a little light on the conversation. Apologies in advance if this comment becomes too long.
The conviction rate in Japan is so high because prosecutors will only bring to trials cases they believe are all-but-airtight. However, it is worth noting that the police can detain suspects for up to 23 days before the suspect is allowed an attorney, access to anyone else for that matter. Prior to August, 2009 verdicts were decided by a panel of 3 judges. Since last August 3 judges now serve with 6 so-called "lay judges," i.e. citizens selected for what we would call jury duty. Verdicts are rendered by a simple majority vote.

Ricardo

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Note that just because the conviction rate is high, don't assume it's because of misdoing. A well run police force will only prosecute the cases it can be fairly sure of winning, so there is a heavy selection bias going on.

That's certainly true but it is also true that Japan's criminal justice system relies very heavily on confessions. It is very interesting to read about and there have been some good articles written on it in recent years.

Japan does not recognize an automatic right to consult an attorney during police questioning and suspects can be kept in police custody for up to twelve days and subject to very intense interrogation sessions.

The American experience is that relying too heavily on confessions results in a lot of bogus confessions by people who are either not smart enough or not assertive enough to defend themselves in the interrogation room.

I believe some Japanese have defended their system on the grounds that honor is so important in Japan that no innocent Japanese person would ever lose face by giving a fake confession. There is evidence that this view is wrong.

John Mansfield

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I don't care for all these "I pushed the button, but maybe I wasn't the one who killed him" contrivances. I don't see how that could or should do anything for anyone involved.

Careless

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Why are there any executions? If capital punishment deters murder why is there any need for actual capital punishments? If murders are still happening it seems deterrence does not work so execution is merely retribution.

How on Earth did you stumble upon a site like Marginal Revolution?

Robert Speirs

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If there is no such thing as a just execution, then why is it acceptable for a policeman to shoot and kill a gunman who is actively killing people? What is the moral distinction? The determination should be whether the criminal is dangerous enough that society cannot take a chance of him being released, escaping or being rehabilitated. If not, justice and morality require his execution.

W. Lee

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I am highly skeptical of the previous commenters' benign explanations for the 99% conviction rate. I am not sure that even the most skilled prosecutor in the most obvious case in the United States can believe that victory at trial is certain.

Furthermore, if Japanese prosecutors can be sure that any case they bring to trial will result in conviction, what is constraining them from eroding the bounds of their internal policies? Do the Japanese have a different system of checks and balances to replace the judiciary?

John Fast

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I am far more concerned about the conviction rate -- and the amount of false convictions and/or non-prosecutions -- than about the relatively slight differences between procedures for execution.

I agree with Dirk, W. Lee, and Siro.

mulp

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As a few commented on the manner of execution, I watched a few months ago a BBC series by a British philosopher/ethicist on a couple of related topics or moral character. The one that stuck out was the manner of execution.

He considered hanging, beheading, lethal injection, and gassing, and ended up considering asphyxiation, and it turns out that the simplest is simply breathing pure nitrogen. CO2 or CO cause some discomfort and gasping for air, in part because of the CO/CO2 build up in the blood, but the lack of O2 in pure nitrogen is not noticed because the CO2 is expelled without problems.

He was opposed to capital punishment, but his question was why was it so difficult for the US, in particular, to find a simple, painless, and quiet method of execution.

For the Japanese, they could probably figure out how to change the ventilation in the cells so they feed in nitrogen and the condemned would never know they were executed.

Amy

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The concept of using three buttons, two of which are dummies, is analogous to system used in firing squads where one of the guns is loaded with the blank. This helps every gunman believe that he (possibly) wasn't responsible for the death of the convicted.

Regarding the question mentioned in the title, my thoughts are as follows.

Since there is no pardon allowed once you are on the death row, every death row inmate knows that he/she is going to be executed for sure. The only thing the he/she doesn't know is when. I certainly believe that the earlier you let them know of the date/time of their execution, the more "humane" (if you can use that word for an execution) it is.

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