Execution

[Fish Kid]

I've read that when the Yanks execute people they have a variety of methods to use, shooting, injecting, stoning (I kid not, apparantly still legal in Utah), and the good old chair.

It seems some of these methods can take some time to send the perpetrators to the next level, is this part of their punishment? I imagine anyone being frazzled for a few minutes in a chair is ready to repent.

I'm sure that in Saving Private Ryan they pump one of the lads full of morphine to make his passing less painless, slows the heart down I expect - and he seemed pretty high.

Would it not be more humane when executing someone to give them a large dose of morphine or some other drug, or even a general aneasthetic and once they are out cold kill them however they like (as they won't care)?

Or is it the case that the Yanks like to make these villians suffer a tad?

[Eels]

I've often wondered this when I've read about the cocktail of drugs given to those who are sent for lethal injection. Apparently it can take some time for the person to die.

Yet it's perfectly simple to kill a dog, cat, horse, cow etc with a single iv injection, either an overdose of a concentrated anaesthetic alone, or mixed with a cardiotoxic drug. These animals die within a few seconds to a minute, and are totally unconscious incredibly rapidly.

Surely it's only humane to use a similar method to kill humans? It can't be that difficult?

[Lonnie]

Bring back the Guillotine or Axe, make it public for a charge. Swift, painless, and will bring in loads of money for the chancellor

[Loosehead]

Are there executions in "Saving Private Ryan"? Perhaps you mean "The Green Mile".

Anyway, I think the lethal injection is used in the US now, although there are other methods still allowed All recent ones have been letal injection which is claimed to be the most humane.

I can't beleive the chair was quick or painless, but then again was that the idea?

[Fish Kid]

I never said there was an execution in Private Ryan, one of the blokes took a bullet and was on the way out so they gave him morphine to make it more pleasurable for him.

The US death penalty varies from state to state, gas, injection, chair, noose, stoning and firing squad are all there.

[andy-hughes]

Stoning? I think that's the odd one out there Fish Kid.

There has to be a moral dilema caused by the oxymornic notion of 'humane execution', but that aside, it is more difficult to kill a human rapidly by either injection of electrocution because the human body is a complex organism and the tansfer of any invasive substance, either medicinal or electrical, takes time to make its way through the system to the brain.

I am fundamentally opposed to capital punishment, so the notion of the perceived 'humanity' of the method is not something I have to worry about. I would suggest that anyone who devises or carries out such 'punishments' need not worry to much about the length of time, or pain, inflicted, as these are sure incidental to the end result.

[Fish Kid]

"I would suggest that anyone who devises or carries out such 'punishments' need not worry to much about the length of time, or pain, inflicted, as these are sure incidental to the end result."

Try telling that to the bods on death row...I for one would be happier (if I was on death row) to know it's not going to hurt. Most of them are probably druggies anyway, so would welcome a fix.

[jno]

I believe 'cruel or unusual punishment' is illegal in the USA; which is why they've mostly gone over to injections. Gas and electricity may be slower and less reliable than they seem and can certainly be cruel; they were introduced, I think, because they seemed modern and efficient at the time. Making people suffer isn't part of the plan.

[Eels]

Interesting link:

http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/injection.html

This link raises the possibility that the subject could be alive for up to 8 minutes following the commencement of the injection and are potentially in pain. If suitable drugs are available for other mammals in this situation, then why not humans?

andy-hughes I'm with you - capital punishment isn't something I can grasp or agree with, but it isn't going to go away in the forseeable future. Maybe treating a prisoner with kindness in his last moments IS futile, if he's going to die, but I suspect the prisoner might feel differently.

[Fish Kid]

Capital punishment does have its critics, but Saudi Arabia is a fine example of how this deters crime.

A bet few beheadings in Trafalgar Square on a Sunday after church would give a boost to labours war on crime.

[Clanad]

For the record, in the U.S. the following excerpt indicates the types of execution used by various States:

Lethal Injection 37 states + U.S. Military and U.S. Gov't (Federal capital crimes)
Electrocution 10 states (Nebraska is the only state that requires electrocution)
Gas Chamber 5 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
Hanging 2 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
Firing Squad 2 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)

Utah offers firing squad if elected by the prisoner (this being for religious reasons) but the law has recently changed and its use is eliminated, the other State being Oklahoma...