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Botched Execution, Again

xjx388 said:
I understand where you are coming from. If people were purely rational beings what you say would make a lot of sense. But we aren't; we are emotional creatures. There is a basic human need for retribution and a civilized society will find a way to satisfy that need without breaking down the barriers that keep society intact. Execution carried out by the State after due process in the justice system is an excellent way of doing just that.
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State-sponsored execution brings people closer together?
 
Convicted murderer and rapist Clayton Lockett, 38, died of an apparent heart attack on April 29 some 43 minutes after the lethal drugs was first administered.

A prison report said the botched execution was largely due to a collapsed vein during the injection and that the needle was inserted in Lockett's groin instead of his arm after prison officials used a stun gun to restrain him.

Link.

Sounds like torture to me. Even noted humanist Rick Perry calls it "botched". If that doesn't give one pause.....
 
Belz... said:
You are assuming that feelings should have anything to do with this.

The problem I have with executions, besides the error-prone process that leads to them and the fact that I am not comfortable with the idea, is that it's a double standard; not because a society doesn't have the right to revoke one's life, but because it's borne out of the perceived need for revenge: someone hurt us, so someone will pay. We need to feel good about this situation again, and we still think that hurting or killing someone will do the trick. It's antiquated reasoning, and has no place in a modern society, where we know better than to think that it's a deterrent, or that it will actually make the victims or their loved ones feel better. The double standard is that we expect each other to act rationally, but we have laws which allow society as a whole to act out of rage. That's completely ridiculous, to me.
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I don't really understand your reasoning. As I read your statement, you grant that society has the right to revoke someone's life, but don't like the idea that society, acting through its proper legislative and legal systems, may come to the conclusion certain criminal acts are so heinous as to warrant such punishment.
 
shuize said:
As I read your statement, you grant that society has the right to revoke someone's life, but don't like the idea that society, acting through its proper legislative and legal systems, may come to the conclusion certain criminal acts are so heinous as to warrant such punishment.
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"Rights" are social constructs. Therefore societies have any rights they wish. I disagree with killing convicts, for the aforementioned reasons, however.
 
Wolrab said:
Human is a whole lot more than a species. But I'm not surprised, to you, stating an opinion is equivalent to rape, torture, and murder.
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It isn't stating an opinion. It's that you have no compassion. You are celebrating a torturous death. That is why I said you are no better than him.
 
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BardKesnit said:
It isn't stating an opinion. It's that you have no compassion. You are celebrating a torturous death. That is why I said you are no better than him.
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I am Registered Nurse. I have compassion oozing out of every pore. That this DBs death was a tad painful is too bad. Heart attacks are not unusual. Pain is not unusual. Cruel? He shouldn't have raped, buried alive, and murdered someone. His death was orders of magnitudes less cruel than his victims. Celebrate? Hell yeah. I would even have started a new line of asked.
 
BardKesnit said:
It isn't stating an opinion. It's that you have no compassion. You are celebrating a torturous death. That is why I said you are no better than him.
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I would not quite say that. After all, his death is a consequence of those he inflicted, and that makes a difference, as most of us would acknowledge that he made a choice that his victims never could. Wolrab may not be as good as some would wish him to be, but that does not drop him instantly into the same pot as a bloody and despicable criminal.
 
I just feel that we owe it to the family of the condemned, who may or may not believe in his guilt, to assure them that the execution is quick and painless.

And I feel we owe it to the presumably small number who are executed in error, that they are not unjustly punished even more than they already have been.
 
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