# Pro-death-penalty types: would you be willing to act as executioner? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898 "2010-11-16T19:30:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/21 "2010-11-17T05:31:09Z")
I want to bring back drawing and quartering for some crimes - but only if there is virtually no doubt of guilt and no colorable issue regarding mental competence. Some people are simply evil and I don’t want them breathing my air. Maybe they had a bad child hood or maybe they’re just sociopaths - don’t care - some crimes are so wantonly and deliberately malicious that I would take at least some pleasure in being their portal to the next . . . whatever. ---
**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 17, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/22 "2010-11-17T05:49:14Z")
I voted “Yes, so long as I am allowed to opt out if not convinced the crime merits death.”—it’s the closest to an un-qualified “yes” on the poll, and it does give me a little wiggle room if there’s a Twilight Zone twist. “Great! Glad to have you on the execution team…the first prisoner was convicted of conspiracy to commit jaywalking.” Though by the same token, I probably should have picked “Yes, as long as the method of execution is not overly gory” too, in case of the same Twilight Zone catch. “The condemned has been convicted of sodomizing twenty people to death, and subsequent necrophilia and cannibalism. Thus, he has been sentenced to suffer the same fate. You’re the executioner. You, uh, get where we’re going with this?” I really should stop answering these kinds of polls, shouldn’t I? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/23 "2010-11-17T06:20:42Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Some of them are contradictory… They aren’t mutually exclusive. I would do it if it was impersonal, I would also do it if it was up-close. Etc. ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/24 "2010-11-17T15:20:15Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Awaiting the tandem poll: “Anti-death penalty types, would you be willing to work as a guard in a prison unit full of convicted murderers serving life without the possibility of parole?” Start it yourself. And it’s not a parallel situation anyway. Obviously anti-DPers aren’t going to be willing to act as executioners for the state; there was simply no point in including poll options for them. And I’m not trying to do a gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/25 "2010-11-17T15:25:25Z")
You left out “Yes, as long as I am allowed to kill the person the same way the victims were killed.” ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/26 "2010-11-17T15:29:31Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > You left out my answer, which was simply “Yes”. All of your affirmative answers had qualifiers. So I take it you’re willing to beat prisoners to death with a club? ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/27 "2010-11-17T15:31:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > So I take it you’re willing to beat prisoners to death with a club? Whatever it takes. And, I think the fee I would be paid would have a significant bearing on my decision, except in two specific cases, where the fee would be waived. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/28 "2010-11-17T15:34:24Z")
No. And I will continue to eat meat and flatly refuse to kill any animals myself and feel no guilt about it. ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/29 "2010-11-17T15:48:45Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Whatever it takes. > > And, I think the fee I would be paid would have a significant bearing on my decision, except in two specific cases, where the fee would be waived. I asked the question of **Suburban Plankton** because s/he seemed to be complaining about the lack of an unqualified yes. ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/30 "2010-11-17T15:53:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > No. And I will continue to eat meat and flatly refuse to kill any animals myself and feel no guilt about it. I, at least, am not saying you should feel guilty. I’d only think you a hypocrite if you ate meat (or supported the death penalty) but called persons who kill and eat deer monsters (or accused legal executioners of murder). I hunt but I don’t butcher. That’s mostly out of laziness, though. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/31 "2010-11-17T19:12:48Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I asked the question of **Suburban Plankton** because s/he seemed to be complaining about the lack of an unqualified yes. I refuse to withdraw my answer although I regret screwing up your data base. ---
**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 17, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/32 "2010-11-17T19:21:59Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I refuse to withdraw my answer although I regret screwing up your data base. Yeah, like I’m gathering data for … um … you know, I can’t think of any application for which a Dope poll would be usual. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b19c9b/32.png) [@History\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Geek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/33 "2010-11-17T19:46:19Z")
I’m more than willing to be the headsman for the state, with certain reservations, as I indicated with my votes. I’d like to have the option of not executing a prisoner where there is sufficient question he may be not guilty or if the crime does not merit death. Both of these seem like reasonable exceptions, and not likely to be invoked often. I’d also like the execution method to be impersonal and detached, i.e. shooting is fine, beating with a club is not. I don’t care if the condemned sees my face when I pull the trigger, I just don’t want to get some inmate’s filthy fluids all over me. Same goes for “not overly gory.” I’m not interested in torturing anyone to death. Though sometimes, bullets fly funny and what was clearly aimed as a headshot turns out to be a gutshot instead and that poor bastard just has to lie there writhing until he bleeds out because, sorry, man, one bullet to a customer, and I don’t make the rules, they only give me one… I’d like to be anonymous too. I wouldn’t want the neighborhood kids saying, “That’s Jack Ketch!” As if any of the little bastards would know who Jack Ketch was. If anyone asked what I did, I would simply say I worked for the Department of Corrections. It would be true, and it would entertain the hell out of me every time I got to say it. ---
**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 17, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/34 "2010-11-17T19:48:45Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Yeah, like I’m gathering data for … um … you know, I can’t think of any application for which a Dope poll would be **usual**. Or even useful. :smack: I note that of the 55 respondents, about twenty didn’t feel it necessary to be able to opt out of the job if not convinced of the condemned person’s guilt, and a similar number did not feel obliged to opt out if they didn’t think the crime merited death. This seems odd to me. Did y’all not realize the poll allowed multiple responses, or is something else going on? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/35 "2010-11-17T19:56:05Z")
You left out, as long as I could substitute XXX for the guilty party 😃 But I’d have no problem with it as long as I could opt out if I thought it was incorrect ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/36 "2010-11-17T20:05:05Z")
In theory I’m pro-death penalty but it has to be a Mumia Abu-Jamal certainty of evidence and even then I would want to see the insanity plea vetted. It’s not just a punishment, the death penalty keeps monsters from killing while in prison. Personally, I think life with no parole would be a harsher sentence and solitary confinement even more so. ---
**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 18, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/37 "2010-11-18T02:24:30Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I note that of the 55 respondents, about twenty didn’t feel it necessary to be able to opt out of the job if not convinced of the condemned person’s guilt, and a similar number did not feel obliged to opt out if they didn’t think the crime merited death. This seems odd to me. Did y’all not realize the poll allowed multiple responses, or is something else going on? Maybe they just didn’t want to be judge, jury, AND executioner? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/38 "2010-11-18T02:49:36Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Obviously anti-DPers aren’t going to be willing to act as executioners for the state; there was simply no point in including poll options for them. Hmm, I was thinking about this. I’m against the death penalty, but far more on practical grounds than ethical, so if they are definitely going to be killed, and the money’s good enough, I’d probably do it. That may make me a sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/39 "2010-11-18T17:26:39Z")
I answered yes. By the time I got involved, the prisoner would have exhausted all appeals and there would be no doubt as to guilt. I would opt for the most humane execution possible: strap him in a chair, ask him for any last words, then I step up behind him and put a round (at least .38 caliber) into the back of his head, right where the spine goes up into the skull, and turn his lights off. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898/40 "2010-11-18T17:41:34Z")
I’m your carnifex. It is not the executioner’s place to determine guilt or innocence. Nor should the pleadings of the client carry any more meaning than the squeaking of mice for him. It is his task to carry out the sentence exactly, no more and no less. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-death-penalty-types-would-you-be-willing-to-act-as-executioner/560898.md?page=3)