So you don’t go with an LD50, you go with an LD250 … [numbers pulled out of my ass because I have never done heroin in my life] So if the LD50 is 1 gram, and one figures that 2 grams would be enough, use 5 grams and be damned certain.
Probably the best method is a shot to the back (or top) of the head from a large pistol held against the skull.
Any execution is going to be psychological torture for the condemned from the moment of conviction until the coup de grace however many minutes or decades later that occurs. There’s no avoiding that and a good argument can therefore be made for speedy executions, rather than lazy lingering.
As to executioners, there’s no shortage of people who’d enjoy (or at least would anticipate they’d enjoy) doing the deed. Most of them are probably not professional soldiers, police, or prison workers. So call for volunteers from the citizenry at large. Have them practice a few times with a small watermelon. And have several volunteers lined up so if the first choice chickens at the last minute, the alternate(s) can step up in turn.
Yes it’s messy. So is death. Sanitizing it is intellectual and moral dishonesty and mere PR unworthy of an intellectually and morally rigorous process run by an intellectually and morally rigorous society.
All the above assumes of course that capital punishment ought to be done at all.
Speaking for myself I’m fairly convinced that the number of disastrous screwups (or deliberate set-ups) far exceeds any acceptable error tolerance over history. Whether we could do it correctly enough starting from this day forward is a separate question, but without thoroughgoing reform of the whole police / prosecution / judicial system I’m highly skeptical.
The “50” in LD50 indicates this is the dose that kills half of a group of test subjects. What you want is the dose that rapidly kills nearly all of a group of test subjects - IOW, you want the LD99, or the LD99.9. Depending on the drug involved, the LD99 might be just slightly more than the LD50, or it might be many multiples.
For medically assisted death of terminally ill patients, I know of one state in which the patient is prescribed a single dose of Seconal equal to six times the LD50.
I think the measured drop is the most humane.
From the Pierrepont film, which discusses his methods and why they were more humane than the Americans.
(Warning; graphic recreations of executions)\
I agree about agonizing over time.
I read about a Russian serial killer that the Russian jailer marches the prisoner to the dining hall. The last time, he shoots him in the back of the head; the guy never knows it is coming. Of course, he probably wonders about it every meal time.
Exactly, I think all the anti-death penalty wringing of hands over the physical pain is missing the point. The psychological agony is where it’s at.
But I have also read that in nations where the death date is fixed and known in advance, the condemned has usually mentally resigned themselves to their fate and struggle little or not at all. Whereas in nations like Japan or Taiwan where the condemned has no clue when they are going to die - could be days, could be decades - they are in a constant state of torment and when they do get the “you’re going to die in 1 hour” sudden notice, they panic in terror and hide in the bathroom or demand a cigarette or do anything to buy a few more minutes of life.
I know what an LD50 is, I just don’t know the numbers for heroin … since I don’t do heroin, nor am I medical personnel, and have no need to know the numbers for heroin. I was just using random numbers as an example - and as I said, I would use a dose that was damned well more than enough to drop several people to make sure that the person will not survive it.
And back in the day I originally suggested heroin because drug companies are reluctant to provide death drugs, so if you just draw the heroin out of the evidence office before it gets destroyed, no drug companies can get their panties in a bunch over providing death drugs.
So what we should want is a method that is swift and painless for the condemned, but looks gruesome to the observers. For this, consider feeding the condemned into a wood chipper, preferably head-first. That seems fast enough the victim may never feel a thing (or at most, for half a second). But definitely gruesome for the observers. (One wonders if the itty bitty shreds of brain that ensue are capable of perceiving some piece of the agony on their own, however.)
The real solution, I’m sure, is asphyxiation by nitrogen or helium (but NOT CO).
Or confront the condemned with a Boojum Snark, whereupon the victim will softly and suddenly vanish away.
A large safe falling from a great height would add a bit of whimsy to the whole thing.
Helium is in limited supply, and they aren’t making any more of it. (well, not unless fusion reactors ever take off in a big way.) Nitrogen is ridiculously abundant.
Or a 16 ton weight for a bit of that British whimsy.
What do they use in the states that allow physician assisted deaths when someone opts to end their life because of a terminal illness?
Wouldn’t that work?
I have a better idea. How about we just don’t do it. Saves no end of trouble.
And then put those psychos on a watch list for the rest of their lives.
That is quite different than killing someone who does not want to die. Then there is the oath: “First, do no harm.”
As mentioned above, simpler to just not execute people.
I had a friend raped and tortured. I would gladly put a round into the heads of the guys who did it [and filmed it, and bragged about it.] I don’t consider myself a psycho for that little bit of public service.
That is understandable and quite different than killing someone you don’t know, just because you are willing to execute someone.
Would you volunteer to execute a person who had done something similar to someone you didn’t know?
Since I launched this hijack about willing executioners I’d like to flesh out my POV a smidgen. Starting from the perspective that the death penalty is barbaric and, as presently practiced, is highly racist and ought not be done at all.
My suggestion was a recognition of two facts:
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Having state employees perform the execution is a big psychological / emotional minefield. It’s asking for creating PTSD or worse. That should not be foisted off on people as part of their job. And the sort of people who’d be happy doing the deed are not really the sort of people who we want working around our prisoners. As our experts will tell you, prisoners are rarely nice people to have a beer with. But the worse you try to treat them, the worse they try to treat you. Calm respect gets farther than shouting and threatening. Psychos need not apply.
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The world does contain psychopaths. And homegrown law-and-order wannabe warriors. As ghastly as that feature of human nature is, better we get some value from that nature and have those already-damaged folks do the job rather than hapless state employees. Besides, I expect a bunch of the volunteers will learn a real lesson the time they actually have to shoot a helpless restrained prisoner. Sadly, some will love the thrill. Most will discover it isn’t fun at all and will grow as people with that knowledge. Many will discover they don’t have the moxie to pull the trigger and will also grow from that experience. Very few former combat soldiers play paintball or first person shooter vid games. There’s a reason for that.
The sentiment expressed by @aruvqan was not one I was aiming for, but is certainly understandable. IMO that’d be a third category in my outline but one I’ll let her and others similarly situated expound on. I’ve not walked in those shoes. I have my imagination, but that’s a pale ghost compared to the actual experience.
how do you figure that?