LOL elfkin
I don’t think so. In Georgia (and I believe Texas), executions are always carried out at one particular prison.
Well, if we actively WANTED a form of execution that would be reasonably humane but would look frightening so as to serve as a deterrent, we could toss people into one of those giant lumber-shredders, the ones that convert waste logs and trimmings into sawdust at very high speed. BZZZZzzzzzzzsssshhhh!
::red gory flume arcs through the air for a couple seconds and then dissipates::
settles into barrel bound for the local Jimmy Dean factory, Soylent Green Division ::
Does the convicted get to choose whether or not to donate the organs, or does the state somehow declare that this is no longer a right and that the convict MUST donate the organs?
Sorry Rex Fenestrarum
I should have worded that more clearly.
At all locations where people are executed by electrocution, is it done by their own independent electrical generating system?
I would say that is the case for the reasons I stated previously. Of course, I’m just guessing and if anyone knows for sure, by all means post your answer.
About the electrical system- boy it sure seems to me that the local utility could provide a line with whatever voltage and amperage was required.
Originally, I believe it was just a way to sell man’s new servant, electricity. The Edison-Westinghouse battle and AC vs. DC also played roles. As far as a humane way to execute, I’d like to believe that the initial jolt takes away the capacity for pain, but unfortunately the only ones that can tell us for sure are dead. In these modern times, other methods seem to be much quicker and/or more painless, including the guillotine and lethal injection. I rather like the method that was used in an attempted murder on Diagnosis Murder- you tie up the victim, strap him on a gurney, and slide him into a morgue vault. Put a large block of dry ice under him and shut the door. The dry ice will become CO2 gas and the victim falls asleep painlessly.
It would certainly be possible. Chair voltage is nominally between 1700 and 2400 V, and is limited to around 6 A, to avoid overcooking the condemned and possibly causing a fire (erk!). This works out to a maximum of 14.4 kVA, well within the capability of a typical single-phase supply transformer. For comparison, a modern 200-amp 120/240 V residential service transformer can supply up to 24 kVA.
Uh, wouldn’t this be excruciating? Isn’t CO[sub]2[/sub] what triggers the “I’m asphyxiating! FUCK!” sensors in your brain? Not to mention, the CO[sub]2[/sub] won’t sublimate instantly, so the concentration would gradually build up, making the terror of suffocation last that much longer…
Ick.
Give me a respirator hooked up to an nitrogen, please.
From experience, I’d say you’d pass out almost immediately. I once (on a bet) downed a large cup (~24 oz, IIRC) of fountain cola, and promptly fainted after finishing it. Apparently, inhaling the CO[sub]2[/sub] in substantial quantities in between gulps effectively displaced all the oxygen and spiked the CO[sub]2[/sub] levels in my blood, causing a rapid loss of conciousness. Fun was had by all.
I’d still think that in the situation of a block of dry ice in a room, the amount of CO2 produced would increase the air’s CO2 concentration comparatively gradually.
More anecdotal data: I directly inhaled the product of sublimating dry ice once, in college. My classmates and I had swiped some dry ice from our chem lab session, and I wanted to tuck some in my small freezer temporarily. I had it in a ziploc bag, and without thinking, I closed it nearly all the way except for a small gap, then tried to suck the air out. Breathing that in felt pretty caustic, and I was coughing from it.
Well, Gary Gilmore’s corneas were harvested, but I don’t know if that was his choice or not.
Boy, has someone’s raw nerve been touched or what?
The phrase “arguably humane” is the key. The average uninformed US citizen believes electrocution (and gassing) are humane only because that’s what they’ve been told. If they were to see video of such an electrocution, even an unbotched one, the overwhelming majority would quickly go into the “arguably inhumane” camp. Ergo, the officials in charge of the torture don’t allow it.
Also, I would like to point out that it was you who initiated the argument about historical standards of acceptable punishment. You. Got that?
Well, I hope you can back up that statement, because I don’t believe it’s true.
I’d say it is true. Have you seen the electrocution video in Faces of Death? And that wasn’t even one of the horrific ones.
Surely not all doctors would have a problem with it. If it’s the Hippocratic Oath that would prevent such behavior, today practically no schools administer the oath in its original form. For instance, only 14% have a version which prohibits euthanasia. If the pay is high enough, they will come.
Oh, come on. The Faces of Death film is largely fake. You can check it out on Snopes & elsewhere.
Even if fake, the Face of Death footage might be a good approximation of a real electrocution. Then there’s the Green Mile dry sponge electrocution scene. As earlier posts show, some botched electrocutions have become quite grisly.
Hi Everybody!
I am against capital punishment, but for the sake of argument, if there had to be an execution, why don’t they just combine the various methods?
Put the electric chair on a trap door (with a noose around the person’s neck), inside the gas chamber, while being hooked-up to the lethal injection apparatus and have it all timed almost perfectly to take place in the proper sequence. (I guess they could even add a firing squad if they gave them gas masks.)
Just a thought, as killing (except for a murderous fantasy now and then) has never been my cup of tea!
Why don’t they?
Because such a redundant process would cost more money!
I don’t want my taxes wasted on executing criminals multiple times.
Personally, I oppose Capital Punishment as very wasteful, and would prefer than none of my tax money is used for it. But that’s a GD thread.