Killer's sentence unchanged despite new mental illness diagnosis

The judge acted correctly. The punishment range for Article 199 is five years through the death penalty. This roughly corresponds to German or Russian practice, though it might feel a bit light for those who prefer the 30-40 year class penalties in common law. This has to cover everything including multiple deaths, especially heinous deaths ... etc.

The punishment is now 16 years. As far as I can see there is only one aggravating factor - victim being a minor. Considering that in the first trial he qualified for diminished responsibility, the lay judges probably were on the heavy side (we need to make law a compulsory subject...). So basically he now got something suitable for One Aggravator, Minimal or No Mitigating factor.

There is your trouble. You should not be on the side of people. You should be on the side of justice, principles and fairness.

They are on the side of fairness. The fact that you equate the irreversible act of taking an innocent human life to sympathetically supporting the killer as justice is ludicrous. There is only so much leeway we can give for the mentally ill when it comes to committing an irreversible act. Better get off your high horse and see things clearly.

It's time our views on violent crime and social sanctions caught up with the science: there will always be violent individuals among us whose abnormal brain functions are the direct cause of their unrestrained acts of violence. Goodman is absolutely right to demand more compassion from society. Too many of us still refuse to accept the reality of our primate natures.

The judge is not an expert in developmental disorders

Yeah, actually nobody is, even psychiatrists. Most of what they do is guesswork.

Jail or hospital, don't let him out any more.

so killing someone only get u to sit in prison for 15years ? thats something new

But the only action I would ever take over it would be to do something nice for them, not something mean to a crazy person that lacks self control

You are still on the outside looking in. You will go on living your life to the fullest as these parents have to deal with the loss of their heart and soul. I am still on the parents side no matter what you say.

Luddite Schizophrenia was also mentioned.

Change the headline. Autism is not an illness, mental or otherwise.

A child is dead and you have zero compassion for the parents who lost their child.

You are not asking for compassion. You are asking for action. They have my compassion. They have my pity and my sympathy. But the only action I would ever take over it would be to do something nice for them, not something mean to a crazy person that lacks self control.

There is your trouble. You should not be on the side of people. You should be on the side of justice, principles and fairness. People choosing the side of people is the source of half of what is wrong with the world.

Exactly. Revenge, however sweet it may appear, is always destructive in the end.

There is your trouble. A child is dead and you have zero compassion for the parents who lost their child. I never said I wanted revenge for the killer, I said that I am on the side of the parents. It is easy to care less about the parents on the outside looking in.

He'll have 16 years to work on improving his condition, whereas 11 year old Toshi Morita does not.

@Norman

Exactly. Revenge, however sweet it may appear, is always destructive in the end.

I am on the parents side, not the suspect's side.

There is your trouble. You should not be on the side of people. You should be on the side of justice, principles and fairness. People choosing the side of people is the source of half of what is wrong with the world.

Well said. But you're letting common sense and rationality get in the way of people's rabid desire for the crunchy, chewy satisfaction of revenge. Nothing beats that....

All I see is 2 different courts giving a different diagnosis on his mentality and parents wanting something more than the sentence given for someone murdering their son. I am on the parents side, not the suspect's side.

The mob just wants the show of the hanging. And the courts are half appealing to them. The deranged cannot help to not be deranged. It makes no sense to hold them responsible as if they are sane. You just put them in a mental hospital for life when you are sure they are murderously insane.

@kurisupisu

Well said. But you're letting common sense and rationality get in the way of people's rabid desire for the crunchy, chewy satisfaction of revenge. Nothing beats that....

Maybe the guy should be in a mental hospital not a prison!

16 years for killing a child?

so he can get out and do it again. Great. Japanese justice strikes again!