A Humane Execution

M

Mrs.Lucysnow

Valued Senior Member
The death penalty has come under scrutiny lately since the lethal injection cocktail (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) has come under attack as being inhumane. Evidently the first injection which is meant to render the patient unconscious can wear off when the second paralytic is being administered and its supposed to be painful as hell (burning sensation).

Anyway, former Conservative MP Michael Portillo who once supported the death penalty went on a journey to find a humane way of killing convicts on death row. You can see his journey here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/kill-human-being/

Portillo discovers that one can have a happy death (hypoxia) by simply inhaling a gas mixture of nitrogen and argon. Its a mixture they use to put pigs down. Hypoxia induces a euphoric pleasant high so the person doesn't care if they are being gassed to death or not.

When it comes to the death penalty, would you feel better about death row if you knew the death would be painless psychologically as well as physically?

What's the point of having a death penalty as a deterrent if it isn't horrific and uncomfortable?

Is it fair to the victims of violent crime if the perpetrators are allowed to smile their way to death?

I have always felt uncomfortable with the means they have of executing criminals but it never once occurred to me that they use horrific means because they want the convict to experience a horrific death, I always just assumed that they couldn't find a better way of snuffing them out.

How do you feel about the State willfully using a means of death they know to be horrendous? They have the means to cheaply kill off people painlessly and yet they consciously choose not to. It hurts, its painful and awful but so what? That's what they get for being wankers. Punishment was not meant to be pleasant is the argument.

Would you vote for the use of hypoxia as a means of death? Or do you believe the gruesome measures employed are more appropriate considering their crimes?
 
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Mrs.Lucysnow said:
The death penalty has come under scrutiny lately since the lethal injection cocktail (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) has come under attack as being inhumane. Evidently the first injection which is meant to render the patient unconscious can wear off when the second paralytic is being administered and its supposed to be as painful as hell (burning sensation).

Anyway, former Conservative MP Michael Portillo who once was for then against the death penalty went on a journey to find a humane way of killing convicts on death row. You can see his journey here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/kill-human-being/

Portillo discovers that one can have a happy death (hypoxia) by simply inhaling a gas mixture of nitrogen and argon. Its a mixture they use to put pigs down. Hypoxia induces a euphoric pleasant high so the person doesn't care if they are being gassed to death or not.

When it comes to the death penalty, would you feel better about death row if you knew it would be a painless, or as Camus wrote 'A Happy Death'?

What's the point of having a death penalty as a deterrent if it isn't horrific and uncomfortable?

Is it fair to the victims of violent crime if the perpetrators are allowed to smile their way to death?

I have always felt uncomfortable with the means they have of executing criminals but it never once occurred to me that they use horrific means because they want the convict to experience a horrific death, I always just assumed that they couldn't find a better way of snuffing them out.

How do you feel about the State willfully using a means of death they know to be horrendous? They have the means to cheaply kill off people painlessly and yet they consciously choose not to. It hurts, its painful and awful but so what? That's what they get for being wankers. Punishment was not meant to be pleasant.

Would you vote for the use of hypoxia as a means of death? Or do you believe the gruesome measures employed are more appropriate considering their crimes?
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Well I'm still in favor of public torture that leads to a 2 to 3 hour agonizing death. Also they should have a death channel 24/7 that features all new torture deaths and in between new deaths just cycle the top 100 deaths for everyone's enjoyment. The torture should fit the crime, but I'm thinking a public trial and then have an Internet vote on what torture should be assigned to those found guilty.
 
KilljoyKlown said:
Well I'm still in favor of public torture that leads to a 2 to 3 hour agonizing death. Also they should have a death channel 24/7 that features all new torture deaths and in between new deaths just cycle the top 100 deaths for everyone's enjoyment. The torture should fit the crime, but I'm thinking a public trial and then have an Internet vote on what torture should be assigned to those found guilty.
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Don't troll, I'm asking a serious question. Since there is so much controversy on the means of death would you feel more comfortable if convicts were allowed a painless happy one? Its not that they actually torture the criminals as much as they don't go out of their way to make it pain free. In other words they are not inclined to remove the horror. Its not an argument about whether there should be a death penalty but of the means and if the State can execute someone humanely and still use it as deterrent.
 
if the State can execute someone humanely and still use it as deterrent.
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I don't think the death penalty has ever been found to be an effective deterrent in any good research...or at least I haven't heard it to be.
Capital punishment's vengeance, pure and simple.
 
chimpkin said:
I don't think the death penalty has ever been found to be an effective deterrent in any good research...or at least I haven't heard it to be.
Capital punishment's vengeance, pure and simple.
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But that's the point isn't it? Vengeance? This is what Portillo discovered to his amazement when he finally went to the States and talked with officials on the subject. The death penalty is SUPPOSED to be vengeful. So are supermax prisons by the way where you are in a small room for 23 hours a day for the rest of your life. So it begs the question of whether you would find the death penalty more acceptable if it were painless. But I agree its not a good deterrent.
 
Would I find it acceptable were it more painless?

Probably not.

But yes, we're a vengeful people.

Edited: If prisons made the people in them functional and able to stay out I'd like them a lot better.
 
chimpkin said:
I don't think the death penalty has ever been found to be an effective deterrent in any good research...or at least I haven't heard it to be.
Capital punishment's vengeance, pure and simple.
Click to expand...

Don't you ever watch the Law & Order programs? The biggest use of the death penalty is getting guilty people to confess to their crime to get the death penalty taken off the table. Saves the state a lot of time and money when criminals take a plea. But like all effective tools you do have to use it or it won't have the desired effect in negotiating pleas. :D
 
to the op,

i think losing your life is punishment enough. i don't really see the need to make a death gory.
 
Mrs.Lucysnow said:
But that's the point isn't it? Vengeance?
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NO, it's supposed to a deterrent to future criminals.

Vengeance servers what purpose exactly? Consider a couple of things before you construct your answer: America was supposedly built on Christian Morals. It's the 21st century. Civilisation. Rehabilitation. Socio-economic demographics of death row.
 
chimpkin said:
I don't think the death penalty has ever been found to be an effective deterrent in any good research...or at least I haven't heard it to be.
Capital punishment's vengeance, pure and simple.
Click to expand...

Actually it is far better to kill someone that has been found guilty of horrendous murders or other such crimes rather than torturing them with a solitary confinement for life.
 
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