# My Solution For Humane Death Penalty **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 5, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303 "2020-12-05T15:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/21 "2020-12-05T22:16:22Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > (Why did they shoot Gary Gilmore in the heart? Please, shoot me in the head!) Unless you’re particularly vain, like Marshal Joachim Murat, who gave the command to his own firing squad: > [@](#): > > _« Soldats! Faites votre devoir ! Droit au cœur mais épargnez le visage. Feu ! »_ > > “Soldiers! Do your duty! **Straight to the heart but spare the face.** Fire!” ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/22 "2020-12-05T23:15:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > is that still a thing? I mean snacks during / after donation? Yes. I did a double red donation a few weeks ago and they had a nice selection. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/23 "2020-12-06T07:09:04Z")
Back when we were doing underground nuclear tests, I always thought of securing all the current crop of executees to the bomb in question. Instant vaporization. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/24 "2020-12-06T15:56:17Z")
You’d screw up some of the test results, I’d think, as crazy as that might sound. Reading old descriptions of tests, and what the researchers were looking for, it looked like some of the signals they were trying to capture were very transient, “bomblight,” which a bunch of people sitting next to the device might obscure or interfere with. Or might not; a lot of open air tests had “shot cabs” and other machinery surrounding the device. Another, more practical concern is I had thought many of the tests were conducted within narrow boreholes, barely wider than the device. The holes were then cemented in around whatever cables and supporting wires led to the device. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/25 "2020-12-06T16:05:08Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > > [@Trinopus](#): > > > > Why did they shoot Gary Gilmore in the heart? Please, shoot me in the head!) > > Heads are hard to hit, center mass is much easier (and less ‘messy’ and grotesque). Of course walking up behind them and shooting point blank in the brain stem-Nazi style would be instant and relatively fool-proof but I don’t want to live in a country where people can be hired to that and then go home and sleep at night. [soldiers in combat are a whole different story-please don’t muddy the waters] The movie _[Katyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy%C5%84_(film))_ shows a very gripping example of this towards the final reel. Very efficient, and very horrifying. The movie was available in its entirety on youtube, and though in Polish, it was easy to follow what was happening. The primary executioner during the 28 nights of what later became known as, _[The Katyn Massacre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre)_, was [Vasily Blokhin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin), and a brief explanation of his methods and the procedure is listed at the cited wiki entry. He ended up personally shooting 7,000 or so people in the back of the head, mostly with a .25 ACP pistol. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/26 "2020-12-06T17:45:55Z")
You could give them the donut before hand, as their last meal. No need to worry about expensive steak and lobster dinners. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/27 "2020-12-06T19:09:59Z")
> is that still a thing? I mean snacks during / after donation? Besides still being a thing (I also did a double-red a couple weeks ago) at some point in the last 10 to 15 years they started doing “donor rewards”. Being old enough to remember when the only benefit of donating blood was a couple snacks and a feeling of charity, the “donor rewards” thing kinda weirds me out and I’ve yet to cash any of mine in. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/28 "2020-12-06T19:59:57Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > You want a quick and painless death, try dropping a few hundred pound lead weight on their head from 150 feet. > > Definitely messy, but pretty guaranteed to be over before they know what hits them. > > Personally, I think that the convict should have a menu of options, and they should be the one to decide. > > Of course, I’m against the death penalty except in the specific circumstance that a convicted murderer escapes and commits murder while escaped. I have to admit that your proposal exceeds my tolerance for mess. I was patting myself on the back for preferring the guillotine over lethal injection (if the convict wanted it) but death via squash gives me the heebie jeebies. So I guess I can’t discount the messiness criteria entirely. Agree with LSLGuy that the death penalty is, “an unholy mess of conflicting base and high desires on the part of the state and the citizens.” My carve-out for the death penalty involves cases where the convict poses an ongoing direct and actual threat to the public. I have in mind the execution of dictators such as [Nicolae Ceaușescu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_execution_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceau%C8%99escu) of Romania. This only happens when the state is weak (eg during revolution). And even in these cases, there’s the risk of creating martyrs, not to mention escalating retaliation. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/29 "2020-12-07T14:37:09Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > death via squash gives me the heebie jeebies. It’s been done. Of _course_ it has. Do NOT follow this **[wikilink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_by_elephant)**. The hover-over may be plenty. Or too much depending on your sensitivities. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/30 "2021-01-07T00:24:01Z")
Can’t believe I missed this wonderful thread on the first go-round. > [@Jim\_B](#): > > @cochrane > > 1.) Blood drawing does not have to be messy. Think of blood donation. Or classic cinema. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tJq2jHq8iM&t=0h23m34s) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/31 "2021-01-07T01:00:06Z")
Have you any interesting “professional” suggestions? You always bring a novel perspective to these sorts of problems. ---
**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:** [January 7, 2021, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/32 "2021-01-07T07:00:13Z")
if we truly wanted death to be humane we would knock people unconscious before executing them. It doesn’t matter how you are executed once unconscious, it is technically humane. You can cut me into 1000 pieces, if I’m unconscious I won’t notice. The electric chair looks brutal but it is supposedly very humane. The electricity knocks you unconscious in less than 1/100 of a second, which means you are unconscious before your brain can process the pain signals. But we want a form of execution that lets the person be conscious until the end and that also doesn’t look brutal to the outside (a well done electrocution or well place bullet to the head is very humane despite looking very inhumane). ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/33 "2021-01-07T19:31:14Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > Yes. I did a double red donation a few weeks ago and they had a nice selection. And they’re pretty enthusiastic about distributing them. I’m an intermittent faster, and when I donate on non-eating days I almost have to get physical with the volunteers to get out without some kind of snack. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/34 "2021-01-07T20:03:12Z")
Huh. When I donate, I’m ignored once I’m done–I’m 100% I could stride out without even waiting a few minutes if I wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Hoogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Mr\_Hoogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Hoogly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/35 "2021-01-09T23:22:36Z")
Ask most prisoners if they’d prefer the death penalty or ‘rotting in prison for life’, where they are in fact alive, and life rarely means life. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/36 "2021-01-10T12:49:52Z")
As I work with them every single weekday, I do ask prisoners this, including lifers. Fortunately my state does not have the death penalty. I’ve observed that most long-timers do manage to build a life for themselves where they do find some satisfaction and meaning, IF they have some social/coping skills and IF they’re not contained in a supermax or extremely rigid maximum facility. Right now they’re very stressed due to covid restrictions, as there’s been loss of recreation, hobby, visitors, certain job categories, etc. Even so, the vast majority choose life. Where there’s life, there’s hope. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/37 "2021-01-10T13:11:53Z")
If you want something more humane than the current system, how about reforming the prisons so the people in them don’t rot? And if we did executions by exsanguination, we wouldn’t be able to use the blood. Have you ever actually donated? They don’t want anyone who’s ever used injected drugs, they don’t want any man who’s had sex with another man, and they don’t want anyone who’s ever been imprisoned (presumably because of the very high correlation with those other two things). ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/38 "2021-01-11T23:49:57Z")
Just make their cells reasonably airtight and quietly replace the air with pure nitrogen while they’re asleep. Don’t tell them the precise day this is happening, either. Just let them know their last appeal failed, set some computer to randomly send in the gas sometime over the next two weeks, and once it has collect the body. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/39 "2021-02-04T21:50:10Z")
What the purpose of making it a random date? I could see a court ruling that to be cruel and/or unusual. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303/40 "2021-02-04T22:41:20Z")
To confound the sense of ramping panic. If you don’t know when it’s happening they can’t count the seconds. I freely concede that a proper psychologist might tell me that I’m full of shit and that telling them the precise second of their impending death will help them go quietly to sleep the night before and pass in complete peace. What can I say - I’ve never been about to be executed before, so my thoughts on the matter might be mistaken. I still think that killing them in their sleep via nitrogen asphyxiation is about as humane as we can possibly get. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-solution-for-humane-death-penalty/927303.md?page=3)