Once humane, lethal injection now under fire

[maseman]

Source: MSNBC/AP

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Lethal injection was supposed to be the humane, enlightened way to execute inmates and avoid the pain and the gruesome spectacle of firing squads, the electric chair and the noose.

But now it, too, is under legal attack as cruel and unusual, with the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing this week to hear arguments that lethal injection can cause excruciating pain.

Some supporters of the procedure say the notion that inmates suffer is unproven. And they argue that there is nothing wrong with lethal injection itself; instead, they say, the problem is inadequately trained executioners.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21037401/

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Remember they used to say that the electric chair was a humane way to execute someone with little pain. Ever watch The Green Mile?

[glowing]

1. Well, that is a movie... But it has been well documented that it is not

humane. Killing anyone is not humane. One wrong, doesn't make it right.

[tekisui]

2. Their is no way for the State to humanely kill.

It is wrong and inhumane in all cases.

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. Be that as it may, it says something about the psychopaths who run

your penal system that something as simple as putting a dog to sleep is beyond their powers, since sadism will have its way, will not be denied. The perfect seed ground for a Nazi culture and a State policed by Blackwater.

[Solly Mack]

3. *once* humane

I just can't wrap my mind around that...

[Fearless]

5. Anyone remember when this sort of thing would have been big for the election season...

Ahh... right... the Iraq War... How I loathe thee.

[PittPoliSci]

6. it is never "humane" to kill. n/t

[hedgehog]

7. Agreed, but you'd think at least they'd make the effort to avoid the

impression that it's all about vengence.

Why hasn't anyone ever proposed putting a face mask on and gradually replacing oxygen with argon or nitrogen? Those of us in industry have heard horror stories over and over about people walking in to a low oxygen environment and passing out between one breathe and another. The really memorable stories involve a series of would be resuers who take a deep breathe and dive in to help the victim only to end up passin gout themselves.

http://www.csb.gov/index.cfm?folder=news_releases&page=news&NEWS_ID=319

[idgiehkt]

9. I disagree

not on the topic of pro vs. anti capital punishment, but when death is inevitable I would rather die humanely. I have witnessed many an instantaneous humane euthanasia of animals, including a pet on Friday that had anemia from leukemia, and it beats the crap out of the way they are put to sleep at the shelter 4 miles from here, which is the gas chamber, in which they are fully aware of what is going on, they are thrown in there with a bunch of other animals and usually fight until the gas overtakes them. When death is inevitable, you are talking about degrees of pain, if you don't think it is 'humane' to kill less painlessly then ask the one to be executed what method they would prefer.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. the biggest problem with lethal injection is it is performed by any ghoul willing to do it,

and not somebody who actually knows what they are doing, and those who know how are unwilling to participate. Many of those who do participate are often so shitfaced they couldn't piss straight.

Another problem is not enough sedative is used because if too much is applied the pressure in the vein can become to great to inject the remaining chemicals.

Lethal injection isn't about being humane to the condemned, it is about the illusion for the participants, in the days of hanging suicides among the participants in executions were quite common unable to live with what they had seen or done.