Aum Cult Leader Faces Death Penalty.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Background First–

http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/prophet/1.html

Current Story—

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030424p2a00m0fp013003c.html

Input?

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I was surprised to hear that Japan still has a death penalty. The anti-capital punishment lobby is fond of implying that only dictatorships share that distinction with the US. I would assume that Japan is stingier with it than we are.

I am sometimes conflicted by the practice of punishing “ringleaders” and “masterminds” more severely than the actual perpetrators of a crime, especially murder. The common theme seems to be for the police to capture a hired killer, him to cop a plea and agree to testify against his “client” in exchange for a life sentence or less, and the client to face the death penalty. Not only is does it frequently come down to a coin toss between two unbelievable witnesses, but, even if one believes that the killer was hired, who represents the greater threat to society: someone willing to kill anyone for a few bucks, or someone who couldn’t bring themselves to kill, even in a case with a strong personal motive, and had to hire a proxy to do it?

In this case, though, the ringleader is a real ringleader. He previously tried to instigate mass murder using biological weapons, and failed only because of defects in the weapons and methods. If one believes in capital punishment at all, and I do, this guy deserves it.