Several years ago I was speaking to law enforcement officials in South Carolina who were very supportive of criminal execution. They were generally not supportive of shooting as a means of death.
The reasons they listed is that it’s quite a task to keep the inmate still so missing the shot was not uncommon. Secondly, those who did the shooting were frequently suffers of PTSD.
I think there has been a lot of turmoil regarding methods of execution because there were frequent enough misses, no matter the method. If you have to attempt several executions on one individual, it does begin to border on cruel and unusual punishment.
Execution day is not a happy day for anyone. It’s horribly sad that those among us would commit such horrendous crimes against their fellow countrymen that it warrants such drastic measures to put a permenent stop to protect society.
But it’s also cruel and unusual punishment against those who are survivorss of those crimes, who have experienced the ugly process of time and emotional rollercoasters of apprehension of the killer(s), the court system, reciept of a verdict of execution and then the lengthy wait as the offender pursues his right to appeal only to find a moratorium against criminal executions. It’s unjust when spouses, children, parents have to wait to long that natural death comes upon them that they never see justice served.
Very well said. I agree with your post.
All the more reason for a skilled hangman using a drop table.