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The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

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Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#51

Post by URSpider94 »

bodas wrote: post #18
function_seven wrote: post #3

All this complication around methods of execution baffles me. Why don’t we use a massive dose of fentanyl or some other opioid? I’ve got to be missing something, because that seems like a simple, one-step process that doesn’t risk the pain of paralytics and potassium chloride. I think the death penalty is a useless relic, but if we’re going to do it, why make it so bizarre?

The whole point of death penalties is to kill someone gruesomely as a warning to everyone else. Electric chairs do that, opioids not so much.

That may have been true in the past, it is definitely not true at this point in time. The current understanding of the law is that executions must result in death with the least possible pain for the subject.

The battles in the courts over the past 5 years have been around challenges to various execution protocols based on their cruelty and pain - and those have been largely successful.

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#52

Post by int_19h »

jacobsheehy wrote: post #27
bodas wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of death penalties is to kill someone gruesomely as a warning to everyone else. Electric chairs do that, opioids not so much.

Citation needed. From what I understand, 1) that theory is incorrect and the death penalty is not seen as a deterrent by potential future criminals (rather it may be the opposite) [citation coming]; and 2) Policymakers who say it is a deterrent are either lying or disinformed. My understanding of the death penalty is that it is intended as violent punishment and is done gruesomely for the purposes of revenge. Read an…

The electric chair was originally adopted as a "humane" execution method as well.

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#53

Post by URSpider94 »

bodas wrote: post #33
jacobsheehy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. From what I understand, 1) that theory is incorrect and the death penalty is not seen as a deterrent by potential future criminals (rather it may be the opposite) [citation coming]; and 2) Policymakers who say it is a deterrent are either lying or disinformed. My understanding of the death penalty is that it is intended as violent punishment and is done gruesomely for the purposes of revenge. Read an…

That's what I was saying. The death penalty is about making a violent example of someone (regardless of whether it is effective). A compassionate execution is a failed execution because it fails to make the statement that was the point of the exercise.

That just doesn’t align with modern legal thinking.

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#54

Post by int_19h »

bodas wrote: post #33
jacobsheehy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. From what I understand, 1) that theory is incorrect and the death penalty is not seen as a deterrent by potential future criminals (rather it may be the opposite) [citation coming]; and 2) Policymakers who say it is a deterrent are either lying or disinformed. My understanding of the death penalty is that it is intended as violent punishment and is done gruesomely for the purposes of revenge. Read an…

That's what I was saying. The death penalty is about making a violent example of someone (regardless of whether it is effective). A compassionate execution is a failed execution because it fails to make the statement that was the point of the exercise.

That's only one of the possible takes on death penalty. Another one is that it permanently removes a threat from society (life sentence doesn't, because the prisoner can still escape).

In practice, though, it seems that most people who support death penalty do see it as a punishment intended mainly for deterrence, and what they refer to as "justice" (i.e. cathartic vengeance - "torturing someone who made me feel bad makes me feel good").

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#55

Post by int_19h »

tomatocracy wrote: post #22
onetimemanytime wrote: post #4

OK, USA has the death penalty. Good or bad that's another story. Meanwhile, just use a firing squad. Efficient and humane.

What's to say a particularly notorious criminal doesn't get the firing squad aiming a bit too far to the left (victim's right) to miss the heart and deliberately inflict additional suffering? I know there's more than one of them but still...

Firing squads are for show. States that do use bullets to execute people, do it with a single bullet to the head.

In China, where this is still occasionally practiced, and was standard until a few years ago, they actually use an AK round fired with the barrel aimed at the back of the head very close up, with the condemned held restrained and unable to move. This is very messy (it basically blows the top of the skull off), but there's basically zero possibility of mangling it.

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#56

Post by SamReidHughes »

int_19h wrote: post #54
bodas wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was saying. The death penalty is about making a violent example of someone (regardless of whether it is effective). A compassionate execution is a failed execution because it fails to make the statement that was the point of the exercise.

That's only one of the possible takes on death penalty. Another one is that it permanently removes a threat from society (life sentence doesn't, because the prisoner can still escape). In practice, though, it seems that most people who support death penalty do see it as a punishment intended mainly for deterrence, and what they refer to as "justice" (i.e. cathartic vengeance - "torturing someone who made me feel bad…

It also serves as a form of expression about your values.

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#57

Post by TylerE »

URSpider94 wrote: post #47
function_seven wrote: post #3

All this complication around methods of execution baffles me. Why don’t we use a massive dose of fentanyl or some other opioid? I’ve got to be missing something, because that seems like a simple, one-step process that doesn’t risk the pain of paralytics and potassium chloride. I think the death penalty is a useless relic, but if we’re going to do it, why make it so bizarre?

Opioid overdose is not as reliably deadly as people think. Yes, it CAN kill, but it doesn’t always, and not in a defined time period, and not always cleanly - respiratory arrest vs. cardiac arrest vs. brain death. The goal of the protocol is to have a process that has a very high likelihood of causing death within a fairly short period.

Why not just dose continually until death occurs?

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#58

Post by TylerE »

nrb wrote: post #30
jetti wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way, but I guess allowing people to view the execution is a way to show the public that the person is in fact executed and the state didn't just say that the person was executed.

Wouldn't viewing the deceased body have the same effect?

No. A visit to any decent wax museum will show why.

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#59

Post by TylerE »

gpm wrote: post #34
tomatocracy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's to say a particularly notorious criminal doesn't get the firing squad aiming a bit too far to the left (victim's right) to miss the heart and deliberately inflict additional suffering? I know there's more than one of them but still...

I mean... we could use a tank. Take the entire head off...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun

Re: The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee

#60

Post by wmeredith »

jacobsheehy wrote: post #28
nasredin wrote: post #8

Wow! Buzz Feed has a poor rep, but the headline is not a hyperbole.

Buzz Feed News has a stellar rep.

But “Buzz Feed” does indeed have a terrible rep for peddling the most cynical mindless clickbait type of content the web has to offer, and it is literally 2/3 of the “Buzz Feed News” brand for better or (obviously) worse.
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