Posted on 05/03/2017 8:46:40 AM PDT by Sean_Anthony
Capital punishment in the US needs to be debated on its own merits and may eventually go the way of Canada. Until then, a humane society needs to choose the most humane method of employing it
Lethal injection executions, back in the news, just aren’t working. For a variety of reasons. While they are bloodless (so is strangulation, starvation, and being broken on the wheel), it appears they often are not painless. They most certainly are not quick, sometimes taking hours. They arguably violate the Hippocratic Oath in having a doctor perform them, yet you hardly want an amateur to perform them. And drug companies don’t want their products associated with causing death. Go figure!
By a minute
....I’m not aware of any lethal injection execution that took hours....
Joseph Rudolph Wood III had lethal drugs pumped into his veins at 1:57 p.m. His death was not pronounced until nearly two hours later at 3:49 p.m.
I remember a Texas death row inmate whose last words were, “I deserve this.”
I’ve heard that the big issue is the last minute reprieves from a governor or judge. There is a big effort to make sure that the condemned is 100% recoverable with no side effects until he is dead. Many of the painless methods used for animals like barbiturate overdose or inert gas will leave the condemned brain damaged or crippled if stopped half way through. So the current method is to give a sedative with no side effects and then a drug which produces a quick heart attack to minimize the amount of time when the executioner would have to tell the governor “he’s still alive but it’s too late to stop it.” If it takes five minutes for your beloved pet to go to sleep, stop breathing and the die peacefully no one will complain, but try to explain that to a governor who waited past the last minute.
“100% pure dry nitrogen, inhaled, is absolutely lethal. It’s also dirt cheap and non-toxic.”
Why dry? Dry air will cause irritation, coughing, etc. Makes no sense to specify “dry”. It does make sense to humidify the gas to a comfortable level.
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse included use of a diver’s decompression chamber with good effect. It was a bit slow though.
You are correct. It is for the benefit of the snowflake onlookers, regardless of the fact that a firing squad is more effective and efficient for both the executor and the executed.
Even when shot in the heart, the person is still conscious for several seconds until there is blood loss to the brain rendering them unconscious. Head shot is quicker.
Yeah, but they’re hyperventilating for O2.
Rope, which can be reused, is cheaper.
Show them a photo of The Beast with no clothes. Works as a Viagra anti-dote too, by the way.
The red tape would be miles long.
If the Left continues to throw administrative barriers to use drugs then firing squads will eventually replace drug-induced executions.
Gunshots to the head are no guarantee, either. Almost always followed by involuntary nervous muscle spasms that can be sickening to watch. Can take nearly an hour in some cases. Blowing the head to pieces with double-barreled magnum shotgun blast with buckshot is extremely messy and traumatic to the executioner/viewers.
Maybe a rifled slug centered above the shoulder-blades is most humane for the executioner. Might not even show to the outside and sometimes makes the victim look like he/she is just falling asleep.
Sometimes ...
Nitrogen Asphyxiation
Strap the condemned down
Attach a brain wave monitor
Put on a breathing mask
Flow 99% Nitrogen gas (common welding gas - cheap) at 1.1 atmospheres
Wait till brain wave monitor is flat for 5 min
I suppose you could use LIQUID nitrogen ...
Breathing 100% N2 causes unconsciousness within a few breaths (possibly as few as 1), and death shortly thereafter. It is not a poison, it merely deprives the body of oxygen while still allowing the expiating of carbon dioxide.
expiration
Didn’t they claim years ago with Terri Shiavo, that starvation was painless? Otherwise create a device that strangles them to death or drowns them. Firing squad or hanging preferred. I would also wonder if they would include firing squad as “gun related deaths”..
They should let veterinarians be in charge of “putting people to sleep” with lethal injections. No one ever says that isn’t humane.
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You would think that heroin could be used effectively for this - but it is a Schedule I substance and a monster amount of federal exemptions are needed to use it.
The red tape would be miles long.
If the Left continues to throw administrative barriers to use drugs then firing squads will eventually replace drug-induced executions.
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Wha’!? Just get it from the inmates. I know of no prison that doesn’t (somehow) have SOME contra-band. /s
Aside from the pneumatic bolt, I’m all for the deep-dive suit and pump in the CO or N2.
The activists are pressuring companies who make and sell the most humane euthanasia drugs to NOT sell to states for capital punishment. They are being forced by the anti’s to use cocktails of less effective drugs in order to try to achieve the same humane result. The anti’s are causing the problems they are complaining about.
Does the constitution guarantee a painless execution? BTW, a guillotine is pretty, quick and sure.
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