# Execution by lethal injection **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 24, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894 "2014-07-24T00:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![someone11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@someone11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/someone11)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/1 "2014-07-24T00:48:33Z")
Prompted by yet another case of [bungled execution](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28457460) today, I feel obliged to put up for consideration a method of execution that to me seems to be the ideal solution for those who seek a reliable method. Let me first say that I have no interest in the morality or State death sentences I am only interested in the practicality of the method. Anyway, I thought a method that could be established as a worldwide standard would be something that I call ‘The Small Bang’ which is appropriate as it all began with a big bang and it’s better to finish with a small bang than a whimper. Basically there are two large massive polished steel slabs maybe about a foot thick 10 foot by 5 foot. One slab is fixed in place the other is on rails. The whole thing is a solid well engineered device. You probably already see how this works but I’m more interested in discussing the results. OK so the condemned person is attached to the fix slab and the other slab is accelerated towards it. I roughly estimate that if the slab moves at an appropriate speed that the whole procedure solves all problems. Death occurs in a space of only a small fraction of a second, and there is no pain at all right up until the very moment that that final say tenth of a second commences and I daresay that the brain may not even have time to register any pain due to the brevity of procedure. It is 100% guaranteed to kill without mishap, death is completely painless. It may seem a bit macabre but that only adds to it’s worldwide appeal for those parts of the world that like a bit of macabre theatre to their executions. Yet in fact the whole thing is as humane as it is possible to get apart of course from not executing the person. I would welcome intelligent objection to this, if you can find any flaws. That is objections to the method not the principle of state sanctioned murder. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/2 "2014-07-24T00:54:04Z")
What are the advantages to this method over painless drugs, or even shooting? And, if you’ll pardon my asking, is this a real debate or are you just making a point? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/3 "2014-07-24T01:03:26Z")
I think hypoxia in an altitude chamber, or an overdose injection of anesthetic, would be the most humane way to die. And I think you know that your squashing-between-slabs method would be too gruesome to be approved. Like Bozuit said, is this some “A Modest Proposal” type of rhetorical question? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/4 "2014-07-24T01:06:04Z")
> [@someone11](#): > > I would welcome intelligent objection to this, if you can find any flaws. Sure, what if the machinery malfunctions? If lethal injection can malfunction, why can’t this? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/5 "2014-07-24T01:07:35Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > What are the advantages to this method over painless drugs, or even shooting? > > And, if you’ll pardon my asking, is this a real debate\*\* or are you just making a point?\*\* I think his agenda is here: > [@someone11](#): > > I would welcome intelligent objection to this, if you can find any flaws. That is objections to the method not the principle of **state sanctioned murder.** ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/6 "2014-07-24T01:10:33Z")
> [@someone11](#): > > You probably already see how this works but I’m more interested in discussing the results. Good luck donating the condemned’s organs afterwards. Though it does sound like a handy way to process Soylent Green. I’m amazed that [execution by nitrogen gas](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/05/death_by_nitrogen_gas_will_the_new_method_of_execution_save_the_death_penalty.html) has failed to gain traction. Cheap, painless, and completely non-toxic (it’s 70% of air, FFS) yet no country on earth actually utilizes that method. I wonder why that is. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/7 "2014-07-24T01:16:45Z")
This is just silly. A gruesome procedure like that would **never** see approval. Period. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/8 "2014-07-24T01:21:15Z")
It took Joe Wood almost two hours to die today. I’m glad I wasn’t a witness. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/9 "2014-07-24T01:21:35Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I think hypoxia in an altitude chamber, or an overdose injection of anesthetic, would be the most humane way to die. I used to favour hypoxia, if executions are to be done at all, but now I’m firmly in the nitrogen-poisoning camp. Of course the real issue as I see it regarding executions in the U.S. is that they suck at it. People who are innocent getting cleared off of death row, while multiple-murders _who made video recordings of their crimes_ languish for a decade or more. This is seriously the best they can do? They’re not playing with the toy responsibly and should put it away until they learn better or realize they don’t need it any more. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/10 "2014-07-24T01:34:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I used to favour hypoxia, if executions are to be done at all, but now I’m firmly in the nitrogen-poisoning camp. > > Of course the real issue as I see it regarding executions in the U.S. is that they suck at it. People who are innocent getting cleared off of death row, while multiple-murders who made video recordings of their crimes \*\*languish for a decade or more. \*\* This is seriously the best they can do? They’re not playing with the toy responsibly and should put it away until they learn better or realize they don’t need it any more. Actually, I’ve always felt that the true punishment of the death penalty isn’t the execution method itself (do bullets hurt more? Or drugs? etc.), but rather, the long wait of years of dread and anticipation. This is especially true in a country like Japan, where the condemned aren’t told when they’ll die. They could wake up every morning for 5 years on death row, every day thinking “Is today the day?” ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/11 "2014-07-24T02:20:42Z")
Gruesome, schmoosome. There are hundreds of cheap, 100% effective ways to kill a person in a fraction of a second. How much blood there is to clean up afterwards is irrelevant, IMHO. I don’t see why dropping an immense, solid slab on someone to crush them instantly is more repulsive than the strange, easily botched chemical injections we give people now. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/12 "2014-07-24T02:20:47Z")
> [@someone11](#): > > I would welcome intelligent objection to this, if you can find any flaws. The flaw is that it looks too much like killing and is too messy. If we really just wanted to kill people mercifully we already know how to do that easily; a bullet to the brain stem. Or one of those bolt guns used to slaughter cattle. But we want our killing to look neat and clean and clinical like a medical procedure and not an execution. Executions aren’t _about_ practicality or mercy, they are political/law enforcement theater. What they look like is of central importance because it’s a show. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/13 "2014-07-24T02:24:06Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > But we want our killing to look neat and clean and clinical like a medical procedure and not an execution. Giving a condemned person an overdose of anesthetic would be very merciful \*and \*very clinical/medical in appearance. Any objection to that method? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/14 "2014-07-24T02:41:05Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Giving a condemned person an overdose of anesthetic would be very merciful \*and \*very clinical/medical in appearance. > Any objection to that method? The fact that no one who knows how to administer drugs will participate in an execution. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/15 "2014-07-24T02:52:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The fact that no one who knows how to administer drugs will participate in an execution. So what execution method do you think is humane? Let’s hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/16 "2014-07-24T03:03:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The flaw is that it looks too much like killing and is too messy. > [@Eonwe](#): > > Gruesome, schmoosome. > > There are hundreds of cheap, 100% effective ways to kill a person in a fraction of a second. > > How much blood there is to clean up afterwards is irrelevant, IMHO. I don’t see why dropping an immense, solid slab on someone to crush them instantly is more repulsive than the strange, easily botched chemical injections we give people now. Well, I fucked up the quoting with my phone but **Der Trihs** explained why. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/17 "2014-07-24T03:14:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So what execution method do you think is humane? Let’s hear it. I already answered that. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > If we really just wanted to kill people mercifully we already know how to do that easily; a bullet to the brain stem. Or one of those bolt guns used to slaughter cattle. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/18 "2014-07-24T03:20:19Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I already answered that. If you think people can botch a drug injection, what makes you think they can’t botch a bullet to the brain stem or cattle bolt? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/19 "2014-07-24T03:29:51Z")
Practice! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894/20 "2014-07-24T03:33:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Practice! Not sure if you’re being sarcastic, but the same applies to injecting drugs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/693894.md?page=2)