Posted on 05/01/2014 11:56:15 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
US states may go back to electric chair and firing squads
Shortage of drugs for lethal injections leads states to consider alternative methods of executing prisoners
By Raf Sanchez, Washington
6:42PM BST 01 May 2014
US states may revert to killing their death row inmates with electric chairs, firing squads and gas chambers as it becomes increasingly difficult to source chemicals for lethal injections.
The EU has banned the export of one of the most common sedatives used in lethal injections, forcing US states to experiment with new "cocktails" of drugs for executions.
One such experimental recipe was used in the botched execution of an Oklahoma prisoner on Tuesday, leaving him to writhe in pain and die of a massive heart attack 43 minutes after being injected.
The shortage of execution drugs, coupled with fears the courts may intervene to ban experimental methods of lethal injection, have prompted states to look at alternative ways to kill prisoners.
Tennessee's legislature has passed a bill that would reintroduce the electric chair if the state was unable to find drugs for lethal injections.
The state's Republican governor is still weighing whether to sign it into law.
Missouri is considering a proposal to reintroduce both firing squads and gas chambers if it becomes impossible to carry out a lethal injection.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre, said the laws were intended as symbols by conservative politicians of their commitment to the death penalty.
"It's about being even more blatant than the anti-death penalty side. To see this as a rational process is to miss the harshly divisive political atmosphere that produces these things," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Just not a good and convincing argument.
Doesn't the buildup of CO2 cause the panic response?
I guess one right way would be to return to the Biblical solution, stoning.
I can go for that too.
That all said, if it's going to be done. Firing squad or a bullet in the back of the head. Quick and easy.
Do you live in the south/southwest?
“Some people just need killing” was/is a common phrase used by country people like my relatives when I was a kid-and the people referred to were those who had committed murder-just a variation of an eye for an eye-and my family members are not socialists-Fabian or otherwise.
Use Heroin. Junkies OD all the time.
Just get a rope, dead is dead no matter how it gets there! The wait for the trap door has to be a tremendous burden in a black hood!
Same for you my FRiend. But for the loved one's of the victim, vengeance will never take away the hurt. Only forgiveness will.
Because one of the purposes of capital punishment is to act as a deterrent to others.
Although that is a stated purpose, CP as a deterrent is not supported by incontrovertible evidence - ie. it's debatable.
contributing to the problem, not part of the solution
IMO, CP is more of a problem and does more damage than it is is a "solution."
You are entitled to your beliefs. And I am entitled to mine.
That's a good attitude.
Against their will? So is life imprisonment. A death row inmate is not allowed to exercise their will much
It should not be that hard to find drugs that render people unconcious.
Add Yoko Ono doing backup vocals for it and it’s perfect.
It ain’t about vengance. It it were, the family would be allowed to ‘flip the switch’.
Of course not. It was only an assertion. Here's the argument:
There are many problems with the death penalty, the most problematic and dispositive being that, IMO, it is utterly unjust because it is double jeopardy. The “punishment” of the death penalty for the acts of everyone were totally paid for, punished, and condemned on the cross of Christ 2000 years ago. Jesus was punished and died for the very acts a criminal (or anyone) is put to death for. So the punishment of death is double jeopardy. Therefore, punishment is an illegitimate and unjust purpose in the penal system. The legitimate purpose of dealing with dangerous criminals is incarceration to protect society from danger.
Here’s a short list of answers to the excuses often used for the death penalty:
EXCUSE: The death penalty serves justice because it's an "eye for an eye."
ANSWER: Fair enough except for one problem: Somebody (Jesus) has already paid "an eye for an eye" for those criminals and their heinous acts, so unjust double jeopardy is in play here.
("God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).)
EXCUSE: Victims and their family are not justly served and have no closure.
ANSWER: Countless personal and professional examples testify to the fact that there is only one way victims of savagery can recover from the hurt and angst of victimization: forgiveness. Revenge feels good for awhile but does not relieve the pain.
EXCUSE: Protecting society.
ANSWER: You lock up dangerous criminals to protect society.
EXCUSE: It’s too costly to keep them in prison. Why should society have to pay for their incarceration?
ANSWER: Well I guess there is such thing as killing criminals for convenience, but let's take another tack which hits directly at our medieval penal system: prisoners should be productive and at least pay their way in prison.
Do that and they might kill themselves first.
Convicted murderer George Appel's final words before being executed in the electric chair in New York in 1928 were - "Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel."
Or just put them in a room with a table set with containers of the prescription drugs most used to OD, along with a bottle of their favorite adult beverage. Like the Greeks did it, but no hemlock...
So I can go rob a bank tonight and, if caught, argue that the crime debt is already paid? Good to know.
Just turn them over the to the victim’s family and let them decide.
I agree.
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