# most "humane" way to kill - capital punishment **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700 "2006-02-02T18:42:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/21 "2006-02-04T08:30:16Z")
> [@BrainWreck](#): > > What’s wrong with lethal injection then, is what I want to know. You give them the sleepy shot, and then the ones that make the lungs and heart stop working (so the spectators aren’t held there all day). Not all states administer the “sleepy shot”. Some just give a paralytic and then KCl. Having a heart attack while suffocating is probably not pleasant, but since you’ve been paralyzed you don’t demonstrate any observable discomfort. There’s also the issue of the drugs being administered out of order due to malfunction or incorrect setup. That’s something no one seems to be considering. How humane are these methods when they don’t work quite as well as intended? What sort of risks do they present to the workers even when all goes well? What sort of controls do you have to have in place on the means of execution? Nitrogen asphyxiation sounds interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/22 "2006-02-04T09:03:36Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > What’s wrong with lethal injection then, is what I want to know. I don’t know what if anything is wrong with the lethal injection, but I do know it isn’t general anaesthetic. ---
**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:** [February 4, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/23 "2006-02-04T12:01:20Z")
How about that opioid gas the Russians used in that hostage-situation a few years back? Not exactly an unpleasant way to die. A few (U.S.) states still have gas chambers left—maybe they could be retrofitted to use the stuff instead of hydrogen cyanide. (For the record, I’m still in the “physically destroy the brain via mechanical means” camp, myself.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/24 "2006-02-04T15:51:43Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > Anestisized on the operating table and harvested for organs with the first needs going to the family members of the victim. At surgurys end, just turn off the equipment. Good luck finding a doctor willing to kill a healthy patient. That’s why so many lethal injections are botched; the needles are frequently inserted by a guard or other prison employee with little medical training, because an execution would be a violation of a doctor’s Hippocratic oath. ---
**Author:** ![PlughPlover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@PlughPlover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlughPlover)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/25 "2006-02-04T20:22:25Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Not necessarily. Guillotining leaves the brain intact. Arguably, the sudden drop in blood pressure should cause almost instant unconciousness preceding brain death, but there are enough anecdotal reports severed heads seeming to behave as if concious for a brief time to lend some credence to the notion that it’s not necessarily entirely painless. On the other hand, a bullet to the brain in the right place basically shreds the grey matter. With the brain physically destroyed, there should not be the capability for sensation. Of course, only those who have been there know for sure…and they’re not talking. Nope, the anecdotal reports are all bollocks. What people are seeing is involuntary twitching at best. The bullet in the brain isn’t as good because while it damages whatever part of the brain you shoot at, it doesn’t do anything to the rest. The result is often violent bodily convulsions (ask any hunter). Besides, which, you still have blood flow and breathing until the heart and lungs stop. It’s faster than lethal injection, but not faster than the guillotine. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/26 "2006-02-04T20:32:48Z")
> [@PlughPlover](#): > > Nope, the anecdotal reports are all bollocks. What people are seeing is involuntary twitching at best. [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html) is not quite so convinced of this. Neither am I. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/27 "2006-02-04T21:34:42Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Not an answer to the OP’s question, but you should check out [Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192335/), an Errol Morris documentary about an engineer who built a career on trying to develop “humane” ways of execution, and then blew it by becoming a posterboy for the Holocaust Revisionist movement. Second the recommendation. This is a great film. ---
**Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/28 "2006-02-04T21:47:56Z")
> [@PlughPlover](#): > > Nope, the anecdotal reports are all bollocks. What people are seeing is involuntary twitching at best. You’ll have to provide a cite for this, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/29 "2006-02-04T23:14:58Z")
Here’s a thread I started a little over 2 years ago concerning the lethal injection process being so complicated. > **[Lethal Injections - Why so involved?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=230611)** > > This is NOT a discussion of the death penalty. AND I already know from the Straight Dope TV show that they do swab with alcohol before the injection. I was curious why the lethal injection execution process is so complex. Anyone who has had major... It would be relevant to **Imasquare’s** posting concerning general anesthetic overdose. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/30 "2006-02-05T01:15:13Z")
> [@PlughPlover](#): > > The bullet in the brain isn’t as good because while it damages whatever part of the brain you shoot at, it doesn’t do anything to the rest. Eh? Well, that’d all depend on the bullet you use, I suppose, but it’s not like you’re just slicing a neat .45 inch hole through the brain tissue. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/31 "2006-02-05T01:55:23Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > Either that, or strap about 50 pounds of C4 all over their body and blow them to smithereens. Instant, painless, all gone. Probably a few ounces straped to your head would do the trick nicely. Personally, for myself, I would choose the slow ravages of time. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/32 "2006-02-05T17:18:48Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > Without warning! Yeah, except knowing it could come at any time would not be painless. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/33 "2006-02-05T18:18:16Z")
A gunshot to the head is probably the best method as you can harvest the organs and it is probably painless to the victim. However it reeks of totalitarianism as gunshot murders have been the preferred method of execution the world over by the state. Failing that, CO or a non-oxygen gas poisoning (argon, nitrogen, neon, etc) would be best. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700/34 "2006-02-05T19:35:17Z")
- - - I am somewhat a fan of using a large trebuchet to fling the person into a bunch of giant stationary knives. You could even make them wear a random animal-type jumpsuit, like on Happy Tree Friends. * * * - Regarding the “beheadded heads” business, this I just pondered. A lot of _animals_ worldwide are still slaughtered live, generally in onindustrialized countries. Many (I would guess) by beheading. Chickens for instance–their bodies flop around of course, but what to the heads do? Anything? If you ned to slaughter a cow and you’ve only got a machete, a chop through the spine in the neck seems the first course of action. That’s not technically a _complete_ beheading, but it’s reasonably close enough to view any post-effects, isn’t it?.. ~ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-capital-punishment/342700.md?page=1)