# Ohio performs the first humane execution (finally) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760 "2009-12-10T19:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/21 "2009-12-11T02:36:22Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > It still leaves room for error. Dosages, as you said, can be miscalculated. From a purely practical point of view, wouldn’t the only way to guarantee a pain-free execution be the sudden and instantaneous complete destruction of the brain as an organ? It’d be terribly messy, though. Like…smushing their head? ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/22 "2009-12-11T02:59:25Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > The sandwich or The Count of? And how could either of those things kill you? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/23 "2009-12-11T02:59:39Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Sledgehammers are pretty cheap though. If you got a good, beefy jailer to smack you in the head with it I bet you wouldn’t feel much of anything. You’d think that, but it’s the exact reason the French came up with a guillotine : even a professional executioner with a big ol’ axe can cause some horrible, and more importantly non-fatal injuries before he’s done. [QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank] I vote for sexual exhaustion and Monte Christo. Might as well go happy. [/QUOTE] At least two different people in Neil Gaiman’s comics express the wish to die by being crushed by an elephant’s foot at the moment of orgasm. Clarification : the guy orgasming, not the elephant. I must confess, as ways to go errr… go, I wouldn’t mind the Félix Faure way myself. Probably impractical as a form of capital punishment, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/24 "2009-12-11T03:02:47Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > The sandwich or The Count of? Which ever is more crunchy and deep fried. > [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > And how could either of those things kill you? Shall I introduce you to my cardiologist? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/25 "2009-12-11T03:24:21Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > I (and many here on the SDMB, I’ve read,) have often mused aloud: why not just spike these unfortunates with a massive dose of fast-acting sedatives? Why not indeed - Ohio has [finally](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8401147.stm) done this for the first time, injecting multiple grams of sodium thiopental, an ulta-fast acting barbiturate, into Kenneth Biros. Possibly because this massive dose of barbiturates stays in the body, thus making the organs unfit for transplant? ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/26 "2009-12-11T03:47:17Z")
> [@Mindfield](#): > > Couldn’t you cover your bases with the dosage by simply dosing them with enough to fell an elephant? Seems kind of silly to try and figure out just the right dose to kill someone – if you’re doing it to kill them, it isn’t like pumping extra sodum thiopental into their system is going to do any more harm or be any less humane. Exactly. I’m under the impression that this is pretty much what’s going on. [Quote=Max Torque] Bolding and color added. So, the big innovation is that they upped the dose? [/Quote] Seems so. If we have something that can quickly and painlessly render somebody unconscious, and is also toxic, then it seems that we’ve found our painless killing method. I totally agree that inert gas asphyxiation is the best but I’m think implementation would be difficult. This is an excellent improvement, in my opinion. Finding competent professionals to correctly insert the IV’s is another story. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/27 "2009-12-11T03:48:50Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Possibly because this massive dose of barbiturates stays in the body, thus making the organs unfit for transplant? I wouldn’t think a prisoner would be a good organ donor candidate, even if he wasn’t pumped with elephantine quantities of drugs. That’s probably what saved us the plague of [organlegging](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organlegging) Larry Niven wrote about. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/28 "2009-12-11T05:00:09Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > The sandwich or The Count of? The [cigars](http://www.montecristonline.com/bmontecristo-petit-tubo-caja-cigarros-puros-habanos-p-979.html), no? A good meal, coffee, a glass of brandy and a cigar: it’s a classic. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/29 "2009-12-11T05:33:52Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Like…smushing their head? Wouldn’t it be the most utterly foolproof way to guarantee that the person is 1) dead, and 2) will never feel a thing? After all, no brain, no pain. Dammit, why do those two words have to rhyme? 😃 Now I seem both macabre AND cheesy. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/30 "2009-12-11T06:44:44Z")
Can an execution ever really be humane? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/31 "2009-12-11T11:21:41Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Wouldn’t it be the most utterly foolproof way to guarantee that the person is 1) dead, and 2) will never feel a thing? After all, no brain, no pain. > > Dammit, why do those two words have to rhyme? 😃 Now I seem both macabre AND cheesy. 20 ton stamping press … nothing left but red mush. Last one I worked with was amazingly FAST. From locked in the up position to WHAM in a fraction of a second. There is a reason large presses are caged off :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/32 "2009-12-11T13:55:53Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Like…smushing their head? I think they tried that but they guy just kept putting his thumb up saying “nobody’s home” and it failed. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/33 "2009-12-11T14:11:02Z")
_please be Dick Cheney, please be Dick Cheney, please be Dick Cheney_ [reads thread] DAMMIT! ---
**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:** [December 11, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/34 "2009-12-11T14:51:43Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Can an execution ever really be humane? Does anybody really know what time it is? ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/35 "2009-12-13T00:32:09Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Wouldn’t it be the most utterly foolproof way to guarantee that the person is 1) dead, and 2) will never feel a thing? After all, no brain, no pain. > > Dammit, why do those two words have to rhyme? 😃 Now I seem both macabre AND cheesy. I believe it _is_ actually a line from _Pet Sematary II_. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/36 "2009-12-13T08:32:14Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > At least two different people in Neil Gaiman’s comics express the wish to die by being crushed by an elephant’s foot at the moment of orgasm. Clarification : the guy orgasming, not the elephant. Call me a naysayer if you like, but I can see it being really difficult to get off while trying to ignore the very literal elephant in the room… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/37 "2009-12-13T11:17:59Z")
Oh, c’mon there’s nothing humane about killing someone. If you’re going to kill the poor bastard, just kill him and be done with it. I say make them fight to the death gladiator-style, a la ancient Rome. I’m serious now. State-sanctioned murder is still murder, regardless of method. At least this way, the inmates get a chance at survival. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/38 "2009-12-14T01:15:35Z")
Put a .38 to the base of the skull, right where the spinal cord goes up into the brain. Pull the trigger. It’s the cheapest, most humane method available. Turns them off like a light. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/39 "2009-12-14T01:27:35Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Put a .38 to the base of the skull, right where the spinal cord goes up into the brain. Pull the trigger. > > It’s the cheapest, most humane method available. Turns them off like a light. Unfortunately it is not politically correct to do that … it might hurt the delicate fragile psyche of the executioner. :dubious::smack: There are a few people on death row I could do that to. There are some people out there that are absolute monsters that really need to be taken out of the world. Though I still say a 20 ton stamping press would work a right treat. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760/40 "2009-12-14T02:47:19Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > You’d think that, but it’s the exact reason the French came up with a guillotine : even a professional executioner with a big ol’ axe can cause some horrible, and more importantly non-fatal injuries before he’s done. Exactly, Nicolas Jacques Pelletier was supposed to be the first in what ended up being a very long string of humane executions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-performs-the-first-humane-execution-finally/520760.md?page=3)