I think the dying relieves a lot of the pain. Without the dying part, all execution methods are pretty…well, gruesome.
Absolutely not. Forcing some poor bastard to listen to The Number of the Beast or Powerslave over and over and over again until he begs for the sweet release of death is just not what a civilized society should do.
You got me. The belief that shooting is the least painful form of execution is well founded.
Gaiman stole that line from Roger Zelazny.
I assume nothing (except, perhaps foolishly, that people pay attention when I mention the fact that capital punishment is wrong, always and everywhere). I posted:
I suppose I should have bolded that the first time.
The execution methods of the future are:
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Burning at the stake.
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Dinner for army ants.
Those are all.
Bring back stoning, and let the victims and/or their families huck the rocks at the condemned. That’s gotta provide better r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶g̶e̶ closure than just watching some boring lethal injection.
As long as we’re televising executions, why not make them fight to the death as gladiators? Put it on pay-per-view; I’m sure it will help sports bars sell beer and wings. Of course, we can’t allow the condemned to ever win their freedom, but the longer they keep winning their bouts, the more time they have for their lawyers to work on their appeals.
Better yet, they could raise money for the government’s coffers by auctioning off the privilege of executing the condemned. That way, law-abiding citizens can get the rush of ending a human life, and keep taxes low in the process. The winner of the auction will be able to choose from a variety of execution methods, but some will cost extra.
Firing squad seems like a lousy idea because of the wasteful excess in number of people doing the executing, if for no other reason.
Being an executioner is not a nice job and lots of people who’ve done it found it psychologically traumatic, even though what they were doing was legal. Shooting a fellow human being in cold blood, even a vile criminal, is not most people’s idea of a fun time.
If someone is bothered by deliberate killing, it’s not really fair to saddle them with the responsibility of being a capital executioner. If somebody’s not bothered by deliberate killing, on the other hand, it might be not really wise to indulge them with the opportunity of being a capital executioner.
Requiring a humane law-abiding person to be a killer is one of the unavoidable downsides if a society chooses to use capital punishment. I don’t get the point of making that downside any worse than it needs to be by deliberately preferring an execution method that requires five humane law-abiding persons to be killers.
And sell corporate sponsorships! Like “The Arizona Iced Tea Fight to the Death Show brought to you in part by [del]Fuddruckers[/del] [del]Futtbuckers[/del] [del]Buttruckers[/del] Buttfuckers!”
Hozabout tossing them out of an airplane without a parachute? They’d have a very thoughtful last five minutes or so.
Isn’t the first stage of lethal injection just a general anaesthesia? Since we have a ton of knowledge that GA allows people to be cut open, have organs removed, hearts stopped for a time, and otherwise physically screwed around with during other surgical procedures, and the patients really don’t remember the surgeries, it’s pretty safe to say that a criminal being executed doesn’t consciously experience the next step, which is the whole stopping of the heart and brain thing.
If we’re getting cable television involved, maybe we should delegate the executions to Mythbusters. Buster’s looking pretty ragged.
Brad Drake’s world view(I guess). He’s also a member of 1st Baptist Church of DeFuniak Springs.
I predict the bill will die in committee.
IMO, his motivation comes across as being sincere…but the rational he gives justifying the less gory forms is just plain goofy and petty:
Did he actually asked the inmates on Florida’s death row how they perceive which kind of death penalty is applied to them?
Kinda doubt it–the answers may not fit Drake’s preconceived notions.
Some have asked if lethal injection would allow for organ donations. From what I’ve read, no. The organs are seriously damaged by the current death drug regimen. I remember specifically the quote, “the organs looked cooked.”
Per IIRC, an execution by lethal injection involves the following: the first injection is sodium thiopental (or pentobarbital?), the second is pancuronium bromide which among other things causes the diaphragm to cease moving, and the third is potassium chloride which stops the heart. Even this method of execution is under attack, however.
I’ve heard it proposed that strapping a mask on the prisoner and supplying pure N2 would be a simple and painless way to execute a person with the possibility of harvesting the organs afterwards. But my source for this is anecdotal.
We don’t; I understand that the chemicals used cause agonizing pain even on skin contact much less injection. But one of the drugs included is a paralytic, so we can torture them to death without all that embarrassing writhing and screaming.
But not both or we’ll have PETA on our ass.
So let’s show those inmates we mean business and not execute them by lethal injection. You want to die in your sleep so bad? Well screw you, we’re going to keep you alive for another forty years!
My vindictiveness actually manifests in the form of wishing there was some chemical that would make you feel guilty. I know, I know, it could easily be abused. But that’s all I want. I want people to feel remorse for horrible actions. I want it to hurt when they even think about what they did. And the bonus is that, eventually, they’ll learn not to think about it, and be fine. But that also means they won’t be able to do it.
My take on execution is called the “rabid dog” principle. If this person has truly become an unredeemable threat to the populace, put him down like you would a dog. Quickly and cleanly, but without malice or vengeance. Vindictiveness should not even come into the equation.
Sell the executee to the “Top Shot” TV people; they could then tie him (or her) to a rotating wheel and every member of the crew could take turns throwing knives or hatchets or whatever at him until some one manages to kill him (or her).
Well obviously Brad Drake doesn’t have 100 cents in his dollar and is quite the fuckwit but let’s not forget that other people elected him.