Some states look at reviving firing squads amid shortage of execution drugs

NBC News ^ | 1/17/14 | M. Alex Johnson

[Libloather]

**SNIP**

Firing squads have all but disappeared from the U.S. While Oklahoma law provides for them if lethal injection is ever ruled unconstitutional, only Utah actually continues to use them, and then only for inmates convicted before 2004 as it seeks to phase them out. But the shortage of pentobarbitol has some lawmakers reconsidering.

State Sen. Bruce Burns filed a similar bill (.pdf) Monday in Wyoming, saying the state would have to do something soon before it runs out of approved drugs for lethal injections.

[Jonty30]

Have the guillotine in a room that can get sprayed down like an automatic dishwasher. :)

[xp38]

They have a certain edge over other methods.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The story goes that when Thomas Edison was in competition with Westinghouse to electrify America, with Edison pushing DC and Westinghouse AC, he contrived a demonstration where a horse or an elephant was electrocuted using AC current to demonstrate the dangers of high voltage. Films were made of the "execution" , and they appeared so painless and benign that they had the effect of convincing legislatures to adopt electrocution as the means of execution.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The guillotine makes a mess. Hang ‘em.

[Kozak]

In the original fight between DC and AC current ( that was Teslas and Westinghouses system), Edison invented the electric chair to demonstrate how deadly AC current was. Even went so far as to electrocute an Elephant.

[sakic]

I am very pro-death penalty.

However, since many innocents have been executed by the state, I would want a proviso that stated that a prosecutor who convicted someone who then was executed and later found to be innocent, would in turn be executed.

Everyone here thinks the government is incompetent at just about everything - and who can argue with that - so the notion of trusting them to determine who should be executed without ramifications to the designated executioners is ludicrous to me.

[Jonty30]

Some automatic high pressure washers makes the mess a non-issue.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Biological waste is an issue, especially if the convict has HIV or other contagious diseases. Even hanging makes a mess, which is why I prefer nitrogen asphyxiation.

[Kozak]

Plenty of drugs available.
propofol + Potassium Chloride, chased with Norcuronium and it’s mission accomplished.

[piroque]

However, since many innocents have been executed by the state, I would want a proviso that stated that a prosecutor witnesses and LEO , who convicted someone who then was executed and later found to be innocent, would in turn be executed.

Added two to the list, everyone

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Can you cite one case where a person who was “clearly innocent” has been executed in the United States. (Not counting lynchings.) I don’t think there can be more than a handful.

[Jonty30]

You’re concerned about soon-to-be dead convicts catching colds is very touching.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— Can you cite one case where a person who was “clearly innocent” has been executed in the United States. (Not counting lynchings.) I don’t think there can be more than a handful.-—

Also, tbis risk has to be weighed against the risk to prison guards and other prisoners from those serving life sentences.

Another risk is that “lifers” may be released by a future administration, with the opportunity to murder again.

[Bender2]

Re: Some states look at reviving firing squads amid shortage of execution drugs

Have gun... will travel!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I am worried about the risks and costs associated with the clean up. Disposing of a corpse is not cheap, but when the corpse has a huge open wound, the expense (and risks to those involved) is even greater.

[sakic]

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row

This is a list of just the known instances. Certainly there have been plenty more, especially before DNA came into play.

I don’t trust my government with the most menial and simple tasks, why would I trust them on matters of life and death?

[Jonty30]

No problem. You use two false doors, one for the body and one for the head. When the guillotine drops down, it triggers the floors and the parts drop down below into a moat with hungry alligators. There is no mess to clean up beyond the spray cycle.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I forgot to exclude the Salem Witch trials, which are remarkable when compared to similar contemporaneous events in Europe and England, not for their savagery, but for the fact that the authorities very soon repudiated the treatment of the convicts. They took place in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, when their was no royal governor in Massachusetts. When a replacement was sent after restoration of the Crown, he took measures to repudiate the act.

[Abathar]

1/2 lb of C-4 to the back of the head. The shockwave is traveling far faster than your nerves so you never feel it, its over in a couple of milliseconds.

Make other inmates clean the mess off the walls as a deterrent before they get paroled.

[dalereed]

“Hanging would be more efficient, and cost-effective.”

They should be public and on Sunday so everyone could come out and cheer and observe!!!