Posted on 01/03/2008 7:25:32 AM PST by Sopater
The Supreme Court will hear a case Monday that examines what is cruel and unusual punishment.
When a state panel recommended in April that Tennessee abandon the three chemicals used in executions across the nation in favor of the single drug usually used in animal euthanasia, the state's corrections commissioner said no.
Though the move would have simplified executions and eliminated the possibility of excruciating pain, the commissioner, George Little, said Tennessee should not be "out at the forefront" of a decision with "political ramifications."
Little's decision helps illuminate one of the questions lurking behind the year's most eagerly anticipated death penalty case: Why have states clung to an execution method with the potential to inflict intense pain when a simpler one is readily available?
When the Supreme Court hears arguments on Monday in Baze vs. Rees, the Kentucky case that has led to a de facto national moratorium on executions, it will mostly be concerned with the question of what standard must courts use to assess the constitutionality of execution methods under the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.
But beyond that is the more practical question of why all 36 states that use lethal injections to execute condemned inmates are wedded to a cumbersome combination of three chemicals.
The answer, experts say, seems to be that no state wants to make the first move. Having proceeded in lock step to adopt the current method, which was chosen in part because it differed from the one used on animals and masked the involuntary movements associated with death, state governments would prefer that someone else, possibly the courts, change the formula first.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Just inject a shot of air into a large vein and watch the surprised look on their face when the heart stops suddenly.
Jurisprudence has been straight downhill since Tiberius Caesar.
Don’t forget the dreaded Injected Air Bubble.
Absolutely
Are you currently employed, or out on strike??
I like the old rope, if it breaks you walk. They cannot complain about that.
It's the method I've been advocating. Simple, painless and effective.
The idiots - the last chemical is a pain reliever.
I've been suggesting a bubble helmet. Seamlessly switch the gas flow from air to pure nitrogen. Out in seconds, gone in minutes.
No nasty poisons. No environmental hazards.
The euthanasia solution we use is a combination of barbiturate and potassium. The animal is put to sleep and when the overdose of potassium hits the heart stops. The combination of excessive barbiturate and potassium does the job. There used to be a blue solution called T-61 that had that combination along with succinylcholine...then someone claimed that succinylcholine was inhumane and it then was eliminated. They use succinylcholine in putting the prisoners to sleep....go figure.
I don't believe so. The humane thing is to publicly execute any condemned so the society that levies the death penalty has a connection to the crime/punishment, so the deterrent factor isn't diminished because the state hid an execution from the public eye. I believe the more this would be done sooner, the less it'd be necessitated later. The last public execution (hanging) in my home county was in 1904 with the next murder committed in 1932 - yes, a full 28 years later.
Mind you, I'm an advocate of administering the death penalty when warranted, but not when the intended deterrent effect is destroyed. Capital punishment is and never was intended so much as a get even program as it is a teaching by example institution.
Back of head shot with a .45 is also fast, painless but messy.
Garden hose, a little bleach and a 6 inch drain solves that problem.
Retired with too much time on my hands.
The solution I saw used was bright pink. There was only one chemical name on the bottle which I do not recall right now but would recognize. IIRC it was a cyanide compound.
The insinuated question was, are you one of the screenwriters that are out on strike that normally write the “top ten” lists for the comedians... :0) not a slight that you have too much time on your hands...
I DID hear that! And yeah it’s bad McCoy is the DA, I must say he acted like a hypocrite towards the new ADA for bending the rules. Hell that’s how McCoy would win 98% of his cases. Personally I miss the days when Ben Stone was ADA.
I think copper-jacketed lead is two chemicals, technically. Pity. Hemp is organic...
Me too. I really hate Jack McCoy. I couldn’t believe that he was slamming Fred, (and you know that was a back handed slap at Fred the candidate too). Even my husband, who isn’t really politically astute said, I guess NBC thinks Fred is a threat. (And we’re not even “Fred heads”)
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