What Triggered Utah’s Firing Squad Push
12th March 2015
States, though, have struggled to maintain supplies of the most commonly used drugs — or find suitable alternatives — as more suppliers have refused to let their drugs be used in executions. Recent executions that took much longer than planned have brought more scrutiny around the method. In January, months after Oklahoma bungled the execution of Clayton Lockett, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would examine Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol.
Fine. Let’s go back to hanging, a perfectly sensible solution that requires common materials.
March 12th, 2015 at 07:37
guillotine on TV
March 13th, 2015 at 13:04
Adopting ideas from the French always leaves me a little queasy. (e.g., escargot.)
Hanging turns out to have some engineering complexity, something westerns have always ignored. You have to use the prisoner’s weight and neck measurements to make sure you snap the spine without causing a decapitation or breaking the rope. That’s why there were professional hangmen in the 1800’s that made sure the job was done correctly.
“..on TV” does bring up a good point. The biggest issue with capital punishment in the US today is that it is done quietly and discretely in a closed and medically supervised environment. It really needs to be public.
As Ben Franklin said (or reposted), “You don’t hang a horsethief for stealing a horse, you hang him so others won’t steal horses.” The whole process loses impact by keeping it clean and private. It should be dirty and messy and there for the viewing public to see. Before a jury agrees to a death penalty, they should know that it’s ugly. And anyone tempted to commit a crime that could draw such a penalty should be deeply scared of facing that end.
March 14th, 2015 at 19:27
Now that one I like.
March 14th, 2015 at 19:33
Mutes with bowstrings. It’s traditional for Muslims.