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Executions

Tony said:
That's what I am talking about. I think it would be unsettling for some people watching the execution to see a struggling, screaming person begging for their life snuffed out before them. In cases of lethal injection, it seems it would make it even more problematic considering the trouble a thrashing victim would pose to the person trying to inject the needle.
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In documentaries I have seen, the execution chamber is hidden behind a closed curtain.

The prisoner is escorted and/or forced onto a gurnee, kicking and screaming all he wants. Then, he is strapped down tight so he can't move. Then and only then is the curtain opened and the witnesses can see. They might see someone straining against the restraining belts, and they might see a mouth moving, but they can't hear because it has been soundproofed.

I believe that they also receive a heavy dose of tranquilizers before they ever leave the holding cell, but I don't know if that's universal in all states, and I do not know if it is optional in some or all states. I know that in some cases there is at least one mandatory injection before they ever enter the execution chamber.
 
Babbylonian said:
"Cruel and unusual punishment" isn't the problem. Granted, it's been used in the past in connection with arguments against capital punishment (at least regarding particular methods), but the bigger problem is contained within the 5th amendment:
It's unfortunately virtually impossible not to read that without realizing that capital punishment is constitutional.
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Some youngsters may not be aware that the Supreme Court already has declared the death penalty unconstitutional, overturning every single death sentence passed before that case (1972?) A later court reinstated it, with restrictions.
 
Who will cry for Larry?
White supremacist gang member Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed Wednesday evening for the infamous dragging death slaying of James Byrd Jr., a black man from East Texas.

Byrd, 49, was chained to the back of a pickup truck and pulled whip-like to his death along a bumpy asphalt road in one of the most grisly hate crime murders in recent Texas history.

Brewer, 44, was asked if he had any final words, to which he replied: "No. I have no final statement."

He glanced at his parents watching through a nearby window, took several deep breaths and closed his eyes. A single tear hung on the edge of his right eye as he was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into his arms, both covered with intricate black tattoos.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/21/ap/business/main20109250.shtml
 
Meadmaker said:
In documentaries I have seen, the execution chamber is hidden behind a closed curtain.

The prisoner is escorted and/or forced onto a gurnee, kicking and screaming all he wants. Then, he is strapped down tight so he can't move. Then and only then is the curtain opened and the witnesses can see. They might see someone straining against the restraining belts, and they might see a mouth moving, but they can't hear because it has been soundproofed.

I believe that they also receive a heavy dose of tranquilizers before they ever leave the holding cell, but I don't know if that's universal in all states, and I do not know if it is optional in some or all states. I know that in some cases there is at least one mandatory injection before they ever enter the execution chamber.
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Wow, sounds barbaric.
 
If I had a choice, I'd choose the old-time, World War One era firing squad where you get to stand and face your executioners. Not many places do that anymore.
 
WildCat said:
Who will cry for Larry?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/21/ap/business/main20109250.shtml
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Its cases like this guy that remind me that society is better off if some people cease drawing breath.

However, the fallibility of the justice system combined with the severity of the death penalty make me question use of it in our penal system.

So I guess my position is that while I acknowledge that some crimes are worthy of execution, the fact that we cannot be 100% certain of guilt, ever, makes me hesitant to support it.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
If I had a choice, I'd choose the old-time, World War One era firing squad where you get to stand and face your executioners. Not many places do that anymore.
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AFAIK, at the time of World War I it was customary in all Western countries to blindfold the condemned, so he did not actually face his executioners. And to tie his hands so he could not pull the blindfold at the last moment (not the only reason, of course).
 
I am an unmotivated opponent of the death penalty. I don't oppose persons that are actually guilty of killing someone else being killed by the state - even if the crime was an accident.

I oppose the death penalty only because once consumated, it is impossible to reverse errors.
 
Rolfe said:
Would it be tasteless to ask posters how long they think it will be before the death penalty is abolished in the USA?

Rolfe.
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Personally I think it will remain until a system of compensation/restitution is in place whereby the estate of anyone later found to be innocent is awarded such a cripplingly huge amount of money that it no longer becomes financially viable for the state to take a chance with ending someone's life.
 
Tony said:
This thread got me thinking: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124546&page=2

What if an innocent person, after exhausting his appeals, simply refused to cooperate with the execution? What if he put up a fight? Screamed? Would they force him into the execution chamber while screaming and fighting for his life?
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I expect that is exactly what they would do.

After all, prision guards have to deal with unruly and combative prisioners all the time.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I'm equally glad I don't live in a country that feels the need to let mass murderers of 270 innocent victims walk free. We execute them.

So, I kind of like our constitution.

More on topic, I wonder how al-Megrahi would have reacted on his walk to the electric chair? (Pretending, of course, that he was innocent)
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Darth Rotor said:
I won't.

Dragging someone to death over three miles and more of road is sorta what we have the death penalty for, Wildcat. :mad:

Sure glad he didn't do this in some pussy state that does not have the death penalty.
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Life without parole. No need for Capital Punishment. One man going nuts and doing something horrible like that is no reason for the State to stoop to their level.
 
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I'm quite happy with the knowledge that, unless I move to a country with a dumber, crappier justice system, I will never be killed by my own government for no pragmatic reason (note that I don't consider "quenching the impotent bloodlust of emotionalist pussies" to be a pragmatic reason).
 
RockNroll said:
I'm quite happy with the knowledge that, unless I move to a country with a dumber, crappier justice system, I will never be killed by my own government for no pragmatic reason (note that I don't consider "quenching the impotent bloodlust of emotionalist pussies" to be a pragmatic reason).
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Same here.
 
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