For Your Consideration

I am going to put these two Japan Times stories here side by side as an illustration of why I could never support capital punishment.

Case one: Mother in Akita who, in typical Japanese crazy crime fashion-threw her daughter off of a bridge and then murdered a neighborhood boy, either to cover up her guilt or out of sheer looneyness.

Case two: A taxi driver freed after serving two years in prison for rapes he clearly didn't commit, but confessed to in custody and under duress.

Now, the lady in Akita pretty clearly committed the crime. She is also pretty clearly out of her mind. But if we allow ourselves into the dynamic of "pretty clearly" so it is okay to kill her. Then we start overlooking little things like case two, in which there was really no evidence at all but the process has a momentum of its own and people just roll with it. The taxi driver was only freed after the actual rapist confessed by the way. I rare act of providence. If we buy into the argument that it is okay because it is clear, how long does that take before it becomes, it is okay because it is easy? Who is going to listen to the killer on death row who now tries to recant his forced confession? Capital punishment is just a bad idea all around. It allows no room for weakness in the system, when the system is clearly flawed through and through.