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Botched Execution, Again

shadron said:
Some time ago a British newsman did a 1 hour doco on how to execute someone (humanely, if one must do it at all). He found that the most humane method was to place the executee in a hypobaric chamber without a helmet and run it up to 60,000 feet until the heart stopped. The person experiences first euphoria, then unconsciousness, then death; no muss, no fuss, no doubts. When he asked a Texas state prosecutor why this wasn't done, the answer was simple: it didn't give the state the required pound of painful flesh that the Bible says is due; vengeance wasn't served. It didn't hurt enough.
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Not sure that this post has truth in it. Citation's required, if you please. This looks like a cross between poetic license and a bald faced lie.
Rolfe said:
The system seems to be based on existing (though I think outdated) methods of anaesthesia, rather than existing tried-and-tested methods of euthanasia. This has introduced a series of wholly unnecessary complications that foul up the procedure.

Indeed, shooting works. Ask any equine vet. It's onlookers who spoil this by being squeamish. Rolfe.
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Well said, Rolfe.
NWO Sentryman said:
My point is that "Barbaric" is a VERY bad descriptor, often used by pretentious gits to boost their own inflated sense of morality.
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Indeed.
Dr. Imago said:
I am an anesthesiologist. This is right up my alley, so to speak. However, I am prohibited by the charter in my board certification from being involved in capital punishment. Them's the rules. If I do it, I lose my certification.
Snip rest of post.
~Dr. Imago
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Thanks, Dr. Imago, very informative.
aggle-rithm said:
Serial killer's new cellmate in Hell: So, how'd you die?

Serial killer (shaking his head): Damned if I know.
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Nice pun, aggle. :D
ravdin said:
Bring back the guillotine. It's as quickest and most painless invention for killing a human being that has been devised. If we're too squeamish as a society to behead prisoners, then perhaps we need to call into question whether we want to continue with state sponsored executions.
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Valid point.
 
To all of those advocating for shooting, hanging, drowning, stabbing, bludgeoning...

The 8th amendment of the U.S. Constitution says this:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
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http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

There's the rub. It is not up to the person being executed as to whether or not the punishment was "cruel and unusual", as they will be dead and have no ability to state their opinion on the matter. It is up to the witnesses, as was pointed out numerous times on this thread, whether or not it meets that objection.

With effective lethal injection, the person simply appears to drift off to sleep. The problem is not the effectiveness and easily observable lack of "cruelty" in this method. It is a problem with the set-up, and if that is botched so will the execution be.

This entire problem now in the public consciousness as a result of the recent Oklahoma debate has to do with failed set-up. That is, they couldn't get an effective, free-flowing intravenous line with which to administer the cocktail. Again, I will state that obviating this problem, there is no problem at all with the methodology. What instead needs to be ensured is a contingency plan if/when the primary plan fails. It would be far more reasonable approach to solving this "problem", namely a fail-safe back-up plan.

Until you let people who know how to effectively navigate these issues (i.e., not me, but people like me), you will continue to run into such problems.

~Dr. Imago
 
svenax said:
The video didn't show for me, but I read this linked article instead.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/18/firing-squad-executes-death-row-inmate

Interesting. Apparently there were demonstrations against this particular means of execution, even though it was chosen by the condemned himself. And, as you say, a lot of ceremony and mumbo-jumbo. "Five skilled marksmen were selected for the shooting". To shoot a man at 25 feet? That probably requires a lot of skill. "One of the five rifles was loaded with an ineffective round, so the executioners couldn't know who delivered the fatal shot, thus lessening their psychological trauma." Presumably they had volunteered for the job, so what's the big deal?
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.
Other videos show a disregard for where the bullets are going, and it's dangerous to be in the vicinity!
Utah places a target on the condemned's chest, and that IS hit by the bullets.
Those other where the unfortunate victim is just chewed apart by the undisciplined gun wavers is more typical.
 
The only problem with the death penalty I see is the bloodbath that would come were all of the condemned given their justly earned final reward real soon now.
It would clear up a lot of the prison population.
Would have little effect on the future executees.. their crimes are usually done by totally self-absorbed "people" who have no regard for anyone or anything other than their immediate pleasure.. like the rapist/murderer in the OP.
Blot things like that off the earth.
Find the part of the brain that drives that activity, and on the first offense, remove it.
If there is a second offense, **** can the **********!
 
I am disgusted at the sympathy shown to a sadistic murderer. If the problem with the execution was a blown vein, give the next one a PICC and verify its placement.The suffering of this one scumbag made any subsequent executions less unpleasant.
Did this asshat give any thought to ensuring his victim's comfort white raping then burying her? Too bad he suffered but actions have consequences.
 
The problem with the death penalty is that we sometimes the innocent are wrongly convicted. It's not an aberration, and it's not particularly rare. It's a systemic problem and the only fix that can be trusted is to abolish capital punishment altogether.
 
Wolrab said:
I am disgusted at the sympathy shown to a sadistic murderer. If the problem with the execution was a blown vein, give the next one a PICC and verify its placement.The suffering of this one scumbag made any subsequent executions less unpleasant.
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The assumption is that the accused and condemned will sit still and cooperate with placement of said PICC line. It is my understanding, likewise, that they placed an otherwise equally-effective central venous line in his grown prior to this execution, and that failed as well.

Again, what should've been done is the administration of intramuscular ketamine. You don't need an IV for this. This would have rendered him completely amnestic and cooperative. Then you could've started two peripheral IVs and carried out the execution, all while the witness onlookers would've been satisfied that this wasn't "cruel or unusual".

Unfortunately, the execution protocols are riddled with unnecessary regulatory handcuffs. What is common, accepted, and routine practice in the medical world does not translate to the system of justice we have in the U.S.

~Dr. Imago
 
ravdin said:
The problem with the death penalty is that we sometimes the innocent are wrongly convicted. It's not an aberration, and it's not particularly rare. It's a systemic problem and the only fix that can be trusted is to abolish capital punishment altogether.
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I Ratant said:
Fixing the "systemic problem" can't be considered?
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It is inevitable that mistakes will be made. At the moment it seems that at least 4% are wrongly convicted.
 
ravdin said:
I don't envy the prison guards for their jobs. It's not one I'd be willing to do, especially on Death Row. Even if they don't sympathize with the condemned, or simply see executing a prisoner they may have known and worked with for years as part of the job, I'd imagine they'd still like see the task done with a minimum of stress. I doubt they much appreciate their job being that much harder for no purpose other than the BS wrangling of politicians.

Bring back the guillotine, or firing squads, if we really want to make state sanctioned executions as quick and painless as possible.
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I worked with a guy who used to be a LT in the Department of Corrections who worked on Death Row. Part of his job was escorting the prisoner to the death chamber. He said he got along with a lot of the inmates, and got to know them as people. He also told me a story of the one time a prisoner asked him to "please make it quick." He promised he would, then said that was the only time he ever saw it take 2 shocks to execute the condemned. I could tell he felt bad about it, even though he had no control over that aspect.

Wolrab said:
I am disgusted at the sympathy shown to a sadistic murderer. If the problem with the execution was a blown vein, give the next one a PICC and verify its placement.The suffering of this one scumbag made any subsequent executions less unpleasant.
Did this asshat give any thought to ensuring his victim's comfort white raping then burying her? Too bad he suffered but actions have consequences.
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By saying that, you are no better human being than the murderer in question. It's one thing to support capital punishment. (I used to, and still remember why I did.) But comments like this aren't arguments for the death penalty. They are arguments for revenge. What purpose does it serve to lower yourself to the level of that which you despise?

ravdin said:
The problem with the death penalty is that we sometimes the innocent are wrongly convicted. It's not an aberration, and it's not particularly rare. It's a systemic problem and the only fix that can be trusted is to abolish capital punishment altogether.
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That isn't the only problem, but it is a big one.
 
Belz... said:
It's the disregard forexultation in human misery that's being refered to, Apple. Way to miss the point.
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FTFY. I can respect apathy as being the easiest route. Finding joy in someone else's misery - no matter who they are or what they've done - is never something of which one should be proud. I've done it and never felt good about it after.
 
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