The Evil Design of Japan's Death Penalty

[Music] today most of the developed world has ended the death penalty but in 2024 there are still two countries in the oecd that use it the United States of America and Japan but while the US has been transparent about its ultimate punishment Japan has kept its practices secret for years it was only in 2010 that the world was finally shown the evil design of Japan's death penalty July 26 2022 Tomy her oato is sitting in a Cell in the Tokyo Detention Center 14 years ago he killed seven people and injured 10 in 2011 tomato was sentenced to death every day he wakes up at 7:00 a. m. and heads to bed at 9:00 p.

m. in a Cell that's the size of about four tatami mats he has a sink a commode bedding and a small desk in Japan death row inmates can wait decades for an execution but unlike the US they wait for a day they never really know is coming any random morning the inmate can be taken to the execution chamber they're given no more than a few hours notice the Japanese state says that this helps with emotional stability that it reduces the chances of an inmate taking life some argue it's Justice their victims weren't given notice either others say it's inhumane for 34 years a man named Menda Saka didn't know which day would be his last in 1983 he was freed the police officer who arrested him revealed that he had concealed sakai's Alibi that proved he was innocent 12,410 mornings with an unjustified fear for execution in 2014 iwa hakamada was also released and given a retrial due to possibly falsified evidence he was the longest serving death row inmate on the planet kamada spent more than 45 years in prison waiting in the Tokyo Detention Center Kato sits in his cell he's surrounded by objects purposely made rounder so that he can't finish off his sentence earlier than expected on July 26th 2022 after 14 years of waiting he hears more noises than usual outside of his door today the majority of the developed world has outlawed the death penalty but Japan is strange this book explains why even though it's still legal in the US it's debatable the United States is a federal divided country many states have phased out the death penalty entirely Japan on the other hand is a centralized state where polls have shown that the public supports it with a clear majority the US's death penalty is intimately connected with its history of racial discrimination and enslavement Japan is ethnically homogeneous and has less inequality the fall of an authoritarian leader like Hitler melini Salazar and Franco all led to the abolition of the death penalty in their respective countries Japan's authoritarian State also fell but the death penalty remained in Austria Great Britain and France the election of a left-wing government all led to the abolition of capital punishment in 2009 Japan elected the center left democ atic party of Japan the death penalty stayed but what makes Japan's situation even stranger is how uniquely brutal it is its homicide rate is a fraction of that found in the US and it's lower than all the European countries which have abolish the death penalty nevertheless the percentage of murder offenders sentenced to death in Japan and the US are around the same in 2018 15 Japanese prisoners were killed with about6 16 inmates on death row that's 10 less than the US is 25 which had more than 10 times the amount of inmates on death row seven of the 15 executions were part of the AUM shrio doomsday cult the Japanese State sometimes executes in batches all seven were killed on the same morning while the US explicitly treats the death penalty differently from other criminal sentencing in Japan it's treated like other criminal punishments to be put the death in the US you must go through a b furic trial system there is a criminal trial for determining guilt or innocence which requires unanimity after if determined to be guilty it goes to another trial for deciding the punishment here you must receive again a unanimous agreement from the jury then the judge can serve you the death penalty Florida and Alabama are the only exceptions but these two states are outliers in the US context and they still require a super majority in Japan it's different under the cin system citizens act like judges they sit alongside professional ones to determine both the verdict and the sentence of a crime all that is required for the death penalty is a majority in theory five judges on the panel can believe the defendant is guilty and deserves the death penalty while the other four could believe the defendant is innocent and deserves no punishment whatsoever with this close of a vote the defendant can be sentenced to death in Japan there are seven detention centers that execute the death penalty it's the Justice Minister who decides when it will take place 5 days after he or she signs the warrant The Prisoner is put to death these are usually signed right before political recess moments where media coverage is limited the executions are not made clear to the family members and lawyers of the inmates they only learn after it's taken place Kato is brought into a prayer room here he is read his last rights by a spiritual adviser he is given time to write a will and maybe to consume some snacks or even smoke a cigarette afterwards he's taken into another small room with an altar if they're Buddhist it will be a figure of the Buddha if they're one of the few Christians in the country a crucifix in this room the execution order is officially read out by the prison Warden the last thing Kato sees are the blue curtains covering the Next Room the guards wrap a bleached white blindfold around his eyes throw a black hood over his head handcuff his hands behind his back and tie his knees together he is taken to the next and final room in the US lethal injection is the primary method of executing the death penalty in Japan hanging is the only method at the center of the room room are two red squares an inmate is made to stand in the center beneath is a trap door connected to an adjacent room when the inmate is in place three officers enter this room they do not see the prisoner what they see instead are three identical buttons two do nothing but the third opens the trap door the three officers do not know which one is the kill switch this divides the responsibility between all three it's also been mentioned that there is a delayed circuit to hide who pressed the kill button if they were pressed at different times but I could not find a good source to confirm this for their service all three officers received 20,000 yen about $180 each watching the execution are a few officials the head of the Detention Center a medical officer and the prosecutors the medical officer waits for 5 minutes until confirming the death after the body is cleaned the families are notified the body will be cremated unless the family specifies otherwise in the case of some high-profile inmates the ashes are kept in state custody it was only in 2007 that the Japanese government even released the names of those put to death currently there are 106 inmates awaiting their execution in Japan the last person sentenced to the death row killed 36 people in an arson attack tomato was the last person executed in the country I only felt comfortable putting this video in production after it was confirmed that a very specific organization would sponsor it if topics like this one make you feel eager for positive change in the world you should check out 880,000 hours it's an independent nonprofit that understands that your time is limited and it wants to help you 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