# If they're going to execute you, why do you care how it's done? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981 "2006-11-18T22:41:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/21 "2006-11-19T07:03:48Z")
I would prefer not to poop. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/22 "2006-11-19T07:50:36Z")
That’s easy! OLD AGE! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/23 "2006-11-19T14:18:28Z")
I would prefer death by overeating. Just fill me up on gourmet food every day until I keel over of a heart attack. It should only take a year or so so I would be willing to start it a year before my execution date. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/24 "2006-11-19T15:00:42Z")
Just something quick and painless. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/25 "2006-11-19T15:27:24Z")
[QUOTE=Shalmanese] I would prefer death by overeating. Just fill me up on gourmet food every day until I keel over of a heart attack. It should only take a year or so so I would be willing to start it a year before my execution date. [/QUOTE] If not for the film _se7en,_ this might sound appealing… ---
**Author:** ![Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gut)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/26 "2006-11-19T16:45:07Z")
I’ll go with the firing squad just like I posted in the ‘hang or shot’ thread a few weeks ago. I’d also still prefer to be shot in the head. Quick and painless. I don’t care about the being dead part. It’s the long drawn out dieing part that I’d like to avoid. A poster in that other thread mentioned the Russian method of putting a bullet in the back of your head as you are being lead out into the exercise yard one day. Just a quick BOOM! Headshot! Game over. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/27 "2006-11-19T17:18:34Z")
Death by snoo-snoo! 😃 Failing that, I’ll opt for the bullet in the back of the head. Blow out the spinal connection, etc. and it would be like turning off a light switch. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/28 "2006-11-19T17:23:57Z")
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry] I would want to die with as much dignity as possible. [/QUOTE] What do you think is a dignified method? I think seppuku is dignified, but I wouldn’t want to do it. I think I’d choose wussy and painless over dignified. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/29 "2006-11-19T17:43:46Z")
I’m thinking lethal injection would be the most dignified of the currently available methods. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/30 "2006-11-19T19:15:40Z")
I want something quick, sure, and showy. Strap me to an atom bomb! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/31 "2006-11-19T19:56:00Z")
If execution were inevitable but I got to choose the method (and old age wasn’t an option) I’d opt for the guillotine. I’ve always wondered just how long the head can really stay conscious sans a body. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/32 "2006-11-19T20:40:57Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] If execution were inevitable but I got to choose the method (and old age wasn’t an option) I’d opt for the guillotine. I’ve always wondered just how long the head can really stay conscious sans a body. [/QUOTE] How would you be able to see your watch? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/33 "2006-11-20T00:43:34Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I’d want something spectacular but painless. Like a firing squad, maybe, or a bomb. [/QUOTE] Me too - a nuclear bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/34 "2006-11-20T04:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] If execution were inevitable but I got to choose the method (and old age wasn’t an option) I’d opt for the guillotine. I’ve always wondered just how long the head can really stay conscious sans a body. [/QUOTE] I don’t know…I think if I was going to be executed, I’d rather be burnt at the stake than have my head cut off. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/35 "2006-11-20T06:00:08Z")
I would want to be given plenty of anaesthetic first. Then after I am passed out do whatever you want to kill me. I don’t care after that. Screw dignity, as long as I don’t know about it and I can’t feel it anything is fair game. Shoot me, give me lethal injection, gas me, freeze me, I don’t care. I would like to be creamated afterwards and have my ashes spread somewhere cool but I suppose that doesn’t matter too much either since I won’t know about it either way. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/36 "2006-11-20T06:12:46Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] I want something quick, sure, and showy. Strap me to an atom bomb! [/QUOTE] Being [“blown from the cannon”](http://www.harappa.com/engr/delhi2.html) might work for me. Quick, AND showy. Now _that’s_ brutally oppressing the hapless masses in the name of Greater Empire for ya. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/37 "2006-11-20T06:28:26Z")
If there’s nothing else I can do, I would like to inconvenience the bastards who are having me killed. I’d ask to be executed by telekinesis, or by having a trick-shot artist making an impossible shot, or at the end of a human game of Mousetrap or something. I can’t hurt them like they’ll hurt me - that job will be left to my bloodthirsty followers - but I’d like to make the process as a big pain in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/38 "2006-11-20T07:41:15Z")
Why is hanging undignified? Is it because you crap your pants and shoot your load at the same time? I don’t see what’s so bad about coming and going at the same time. 😉 Frankly, hanging and firing squad (preferably with a single round to the back of the head), and the guillotine, now that I think about it, seem far more humane than the methods commonly in use today. The chemicals used in lethal injections are no longer acceptable for use in animals, and for some bizarre reason, they won’t just shoot you up with a lethal dose of valium or similar (I’d think that the evidence locker would have plenty of heroin to clear out death row). The electric chair can be painful, I’m sure (as anyone who’s gotten a shock can testify), and there’s some evidence that the gas chamber can be painful as well (all that muscle constriction, doncha know). Now, if I was going to be able to choose going out in a _flashy_ manner, here’s what I’d pick: Strapped to a metal cross on top of the Empire State Building on a moonless night, then, precisely at midnight, all the power in the city is routed through the cross, thus electrocuting me in a couple of milliseconds, while providing a lightshow **no one** would ever be able to forget (oh, and in one of my hands, I want to be holding a cast iron frying pan with bacon in it). 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/39 "2006-11-20T08:24:08Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] I don’t know…I think if I was going to be executed, I’d rather be burnt at the stake than have my head cut off. [/QUOTE] Man that’s gonna hurt like fuck :eek: Gimme a bullet in the head anytime, just not yet tho’ ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981/40 "2006-11-20T23:06:20Z")
Morphine overdose sounds fine to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-theyre-going-to-execute-you-why-do-you-care-how-its-done/380981.md?page=3)