High court commutes man's death sentence over 5 murders in 2015

Prosecutors said Hirano understood what he did as he told his mother after the attack he would not see her anymore as he would face trial.

Sadly so, even people with mental illnesses will admit to doing something wrong after the fact. This alone is not enough to hang him for it!

He needs to be in a hospital, not a jail!

Human garbage, deserved the gallows..

well said

even people with mental illnesses will admit to doing something wrong after the fact.

well you can't admit to something wrong BEFORE the fact.

why commute his death sentence because he has  serious mental problems? putting him to death would actually be the compassionate thing to do since he has no ability to live a normal and functional life in society. would any one mourn his passing?

..."not matching the common sense of ordinary people," 

History and personal experience should teach us not to trust "common sense". The wretched state of the world today counsels against putting too much faith in what "ordinary people" think and especially what they emote. Otherwise, we could well see a return of gruesome public executions. I place my hopes in science and "humanity" to spare the lives of the mentally impaired and indeed to end all state-sanctioned killings.

What a kick in the teeth for the poor victims families, who were hoping to see justice for these sickening murders. So many lives destroyed by this killer.

Following a number of cases in which high courts scrapped death sentences by district courts, crime victims' families have criticized professional judges' decisions as "not matching the common sense of ordinary people," despite the lay judge system being designed to fill such a gap.

A toughie. On the one hand, that is the goal of the saibanin system. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of protecting defendant's rights, if a judge's sentence can be questionable, in principle so can one by lay-judges and defendants should be protected from the emotional excesses of any judge professional or lay.

And before anyone brings out the United States, remember that the jury does not have any formal influence on the punishment, only the conviction.

Why does japan even have the death penalty? His mental state? Oh the poor baby. He’s psychotic. Animals like him don’t deserve to breathe our air.

what about the victims's thoughts ?

I always find it easy to judge when you have lost nothing.

And the risk of doing it again is more than real as his history shows.

NorthernlifeToday 09:54 am JSTDont waste taxpayers money on this murderer just hang him get it over and done with..

And how long did it take to administer hangings to the Aum Shirikyo cult subway killers? It takes more tax money to execute someone than to give life imprisonment. And mentally ill killers don't know what they do - they need help, apart from society so they won't harm anyone again.

Generally speaking, I think that if the attitude and resources towards mental health was more positive, incidents like this could be less.

I have heard that mental health is being taken more seriously now than before--I am hoping that to be true.

The Osaka High Court reduced the sentence for Tatsuhiko Hirano, 45, deeming he was in a state of diminished capacity due to a delusional disorder when he attacked his neighbors with a knife on the island.

One could argue that anyone who murders 5 neighbors with a knife is in a state of diminished capacity, or suffering from some kind of delusional disorder. That is clearly not normal, rational behavior.

I don't agree on the sole basis that I have a mentally unstable brother who perfectly understands right from wrong. Mental illness does not equal green light to heinous murders from my POV.

HokkaidoboyJan. 28 10:20 pm JSTI don't agree on the sole basis that I have a mentally unstable brother who perfectly understands right from wrong. Mental illness does not equal green light to heinous murders from my POV.

Mental illness can't be faked, and no it's not an excuse for committing murder. But someone who is ill and dangerous to others needs to be in an asylum, not executed. There is no green light for murders by anyone but the mentally ill need help and should not be out in the streets.