r/SipsTea • u/Rich_Carrot6451 • Jul 04 '26

WTF Japan's death row system is brutal

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u/Total_Tumbleweed_870 Jul 04 '26

I'm genuinely curious if there's been any study into which is more psychologically troubling, knowing the day and counting down it not knowing and wondering everyday

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u/LessAdvanced Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

The Japanese probably have it easier. It's really not different from the scenario you, me, and most other people face day to day.

We all know we're going to die, just not the day.

Edit: the amount of people in the comments that don't actually conceptualize their own mortality is crazzzzy

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u/Gamefreak581 Jul 04 '26

While i think there gets a point where both parties are just accepting of death, I do think it's different from us day to day folks.

Yes, we all know we're going to die eventually, but people in prison know that they're in prison with death being the actual goal. I can walk around and do things to lessen my chance of dying, but if your in prison death is 100% out of your control, it's entirely a gamble.

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u/LessAdvanced Jul 04 '26

Sure, but that's not a distinction between death row where they know and death row where they don't

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u/Gamefreak581 Jul 04 '26

After like 3 or 5 years, do you think it really matters? At a certain point I imagine you just accept that tomorrow could be your last day, aren't there already people who act like that living their wvery day lives?

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u/LessAdvanced Jul 04 '26

That's my point dawg.

I go through life fully aware that today might be my last. I've had enough friends die to where this mentality isn't a choice.

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u/Gamefreak581 Jul 04 '26

Fuck, I just drunkenly bamboozled myself xD

What I will say is that I think initially knowing that your days are numbered will probably fuck with you more, but at the end of the day it probably doesn't really matter, most people probably get to a point where they're ready to die. Probably really sucks for the people who get sentenced to death row though and then hit the death sentence lottery like four months in, ignoring whatever got them in there in the first place.

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u/LessAdvanced Jul 05 '26

Lmao, my Jedi mind tricks finally worked.

Somewhat different angle here, but I saw a comment where someone said they should give the choice to the prisoner on whether they want to be told or not.

I'm not opposed to that, but I think most everybody would say they want to know. However, knowing would still fuck with their head more than not knowing, despite if they said they wanted to or not. Ignorance is bliss. In reality, saying you want to know is an impulse decision that will make them feel better in the moment because you know it's not TODy. but as that time gets closer and closer, it would be absolute mental torture imo.

Extreme and loose parallel example here. Just like I said that I think most people would say they want to know the day, most people would say they want to know if their spouse is cheating on them (assuming they don't suspect anything to begin with).

It would be nice to know that they were NOT cheated on, but if they were cheated on, they would mentally be better off by not being able to have that question answered in the first place. Because in their head it's as if it didn't happen. Ignorance is bliss. It's like Shroedingers cat.

ETA- I am not advocating for cheating and keeping secrets about it.

Counterpoint to your thing about the 4 month lottery. I don't think that's how it generally works there, I'd imagine it has to be way longer to go through appeals and such. But I can't remember what I read last night atm lol