Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is not?

[kenny]

HUH?

I realize morals, values and ethics are not absolute but if causing someone pain is a no no isn't killing them a bigger no no?
Where is the logic?

Quote:
(CNN) -- A federal court has granted a stay of execution for white supremacist serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection in Missouri.
Franklin is on death row for the 1977 murder of Gerald Gordon outside a synagogue in St. Louis. He's been blamed for a total of 22 killings between 1977 and 1980 in a bid to start a race war.

He is challenging Missouri's decision to use the drug pentobarbital in its lethal injection protocol, arguing it would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey granted a stay on Tuesday, finding Franklin's lawyers showed the use of pentobarbital carried "a high risk of contamination and prolonged, unnecessary pain beyond that which is required to achieve death."


Can't find drugs that make everyone happy?
Wouldn't the guillotine would be instant, painless and humane?
I mean if the gov is going to do this, there are many ways to kill someone.

And why in the frack did we pay to keep him alive for 30 or 40 years after his death sentence?
IMO making the guy sit there and think of his execution this long is cruel and unusual punishment.

 

[OreoRosies86]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

I imagine beheading would be extremely traumatic for the prisoner's families in terms of witnessing the execution if they chose to be present, as well as claiming the body itself afterwards. Death by beheading as actually not instant or painless. Severed heads can respond to their own names nearly half a minute after it has been separated from the body.

After viewing the documentary How to Die in Oregon, I did have to wonder why we have not implemented Seconal use in death penalty cases if we are concerned with a humane death. Not even injection is required. Perhaps because it must be self administered.

 

[kenny]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

How bout blowing up the body?

Killing is a yucky thing, and I'm not arguing for or against capital punishment.
The fact is current law permits it so the gov needs a process to carry out the law.

I think doing it reliably, painlessly, and instantly requires some massive violent trauma.

Actually I think it's cowardly for the government to kill but try to make it nice and peaceful for everyone.
Killing a human is brutal, so let's be honest about it or not do it.

 

[TooPatient]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

Gah!

We've paid for his upkeep far too long. HE certainly wasn't concerned about causing pain to all of his victims.


So....
We have injections to painlessly put our animals to sleep. What is wrong with something like that? If it is so humane that we can use it on our furry family members, why is it not good enough for a criminal? (I don't know the details of what is in this or if it works on humans -- my point is that if an injection is the humane thing to do with animals, it should be humane enough for people when deemed appropriate)

 

[ame]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

FYI: His stay was lifted at just before 6am, his injections began at 6:06 and time of death was 6:17am. From what the witnesses stated on the radio this morning, he appeared to be in "no pain, and nothing looked remotely inhumane about it, in fact, people who are terminally ill and wish to die painlessly probably would prefer this over their fates."

How bout blowing up the body?

Sounds fair, though I am not for painless, so drag it out a little more. If they caused pain, especially significant pain to their victim(s), I don't think it's fair that they be given a painless death in exchange. I also think they wait around far too long for their just deserves. A lot of my thoughts on stuff like this are likely to go over like a lead balloon so I won't share them. But a lot of it starts with better policework and better prosecution of the right people to ensure things like what happened to Ryan Ferguson don't happen and the right person is who they're actually punishing.

 

[smitcompton]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

Hi,

Yes, I agree, the entire process is too long. We do give too much thought to the comfort of killers. I wouldn't go more than five yrs for appeals. A lethal injection should do the trick.


Annette

 

[Circe]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

Our country is so messed up when it comes to incarceration, execution, rehabilitation, and responsibility.

I believe in the death penalty. In theory. As it's practiced - by a racist, classict system that has an ridiculous rate of false conviction - I don't think it's ethical.

That said, if it could be modified - save it for the third time offender, say (and none of this "well, sure, the third offense was stealing a tee-shirt, but it was the THIRD offense, so, life sentence!"), I'd be all in favor, and I wouldn't give much of a damn about the method aside from it being speedy. I agree with Kenny: massive trauma is no more intrinsically inhumane, except possibly to those who want to witness the execution (which, in and of itself, strikes me as macabre - I understand that it brings closure, I understand that it's a way of keeping executioners from committing abuses, but, damn, that is some Madame Defargesque behavior right there when the witnesses are unrelated).

That said, I'm somehow less concerned about the way we kill people than I am about the way we maintain them. The sheer scope of how many people we imprison, the petty crimes for which we do so, the conditions under which we keep them (see, solitary confinement, and the other side of the coin, jokes about prison rape, which assume it as a part of the punishment - now THAT is frikking sadistic rape culture nonsense). This article was descriptive enough to stick in my head for a long time: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_gopnik

 

[Amber St. Clare]

Re: Killing someone is okay, but possibly causing pain is no

I saw a documentary about him. He was an unmitigated piece of sh!t who killed for the sheer pleasure of it and a violent racist. It offends my sensibilities that justice took this long.