So you’d rather the state engaged in the very behavior that the state has deemed so barbaric that it deserves death? Interesting.
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I was going to say. The subject of the death penalty always brings out some interesting comments.
I’m opposed to the death penalty, not because I feel sorry for someone that is going to be killed, necessarily - if they did it, they are clearly a horrible person. But the idea that we as society get together collectively and kill another human being for “revenge” is the very definition of barbaric.
That’s to say nothing of the fact that it’s carried out at a higher rate for people of color, we continue to kill the wrong person, etc…
Then again, our justice system has been making a huge shift into being the very opposite of.
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from the wikipedia article
Sodium thiopental is an ultra-short-acting barbiturate and has been used commonly in the induction phase of general anesthesia. Its use has been largely replaced with that of propofol.[citation needed] Following intravenous injection, the drug rapidly reaches the brain and causes unconsciousness within 30–45 seconds. At one minute, the drug attains a peak concentration of about 60% of the total dose in the brain. Thereafter, the drug distributes to the rest of the body, and in about 5–10 minutes the concentration is low enough in the brain such that consciousness returns.
Now, it can take 40 minutes to kill someone through this method, so there’s a chance that that the condemned will be fully conscious, but paralyzed, as “salt is poured into his wounds.” intravenously,
What about just using morphine – available at any hospital?
200mg of morphine will kill almost anyone (except for hard-core opiate users). And it feels awesome. Just start with 200mg directly injected, then a steady increase from a drip until the heart stops.
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Source, please.
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Same problem they face now. Most of our drugs are imported / produced overseas because of lowered costs, and the EU won’t let anything through. The events in OK are what happen when we make our own versions here in the states.
Except he was already lined in and declared unconscious. It’ll take weeks or months for the real tox scans to come back on this one.
I wonder how that requisition would go.
Q: “Hello, is this the county hospital?”
A: “Yes, how can I help you?”
Q: “This is the prison down the road. We’d like to swing by and pick up some morphine.”
A: “Well, as you know, morphine is a very heavily regulated narcotic. You’ll need a medical doctor’s clearance and all the paperwork for your patients’ prescriptions, of course.”
Q: “Oh, no—that’s OK. We’re just going to kill some folks with it.”
A: [CLICK]
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Since revealing the source is off limits - why not just get some heroin off the street.
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I’d rather that it wasn’t needed. My first choice would be prevention.
Barring that, I’d prefer justice. My second choice would be to see the victim fairly compensated for their suffering, repair or replacement for any damage done, and adequate steps taken to go back to yes, prevention.
But when prevention fails, and when anything even close to justice is impossible, then yes, I’m okay with settling for revenge, and I’m willing to call it what it is.
===============EDIT:=======================
I’m sorry- I confused this botched execution with a different botched execution I read about this week. Two completely different circumstances. Everything below is not relevant to this circumstance, but I am leaving it because it still supports my general argument whether or not it’s relevant in this case- That I support the death penalty for predatory offences.
For the record, I’m not certain the death penalty was indeed necessary in this case. Again, I confused it with a different case I read about this week, because they were mentioned in the same article. My bad.
===============/ EDIT======================
But in response to your question: What’s barbaric isn’t the act. It’s the motivation.
We’re not talking about somebody who’s driven to the breaking point by poverty and desperately shoots a guy during a robbery. We’re not talking about someone who gets in a bar fight and doesn’t know his own strength. We’re not talking about someone killing a masked intruder in their home.
We’re talking about a someone who raped and killed a baby because he enjoyed it. We’re talking about someone who probably replays that moment in his mind not out guilt or shame or trying to think of what he should have done differently, but because it helps him get off.
This is not a person who can be rehabilitated. This is not a crime where the damage can be reversed.
There are only two possible obligations the state can have: To prevent the person from ever hurting someone else, and to try to give the victim or their family as much closure as possible.
This is not a situation with any good solution or any good outcome. The options are bad and unjust or just bad.
We could use heroin. Plenty of that around, and easily available in most prisons.
Torturing someone to death in the name of “revenge” isn’t barbaric?
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It is a barbaric surrogate for true justice, but better than no justice at all.
That’s why it’s the first of three drugs given in a ‘human’ execution. When it’s available, which Europe (to their credit) has made sure it is not.
I’d rather live in a society that lacked “true justice” than one which employed professional rapists and torturers.
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so you’re saying barbaric revenge is more accessible than ‘true’ Justice, therefore, meh, close enough?
Slippery slope you’ve got there.
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Very slippery. Absolutely. Not something to be used lightly, or when there is any kind of better alternative. Probably likely to be abused, as all power is.
But I see it as “bad solution” versus “bad solution with sense of closure”. No good option there- only a choice between which is worse for the perp and which is worse for the victim.
There must be some just sitting in an evidence locker…
I’ve found myself wondering, while listening to and reading various news stories about “widespread deaths from heroin and prescription narcotics” and “the execution drug conundrum”, why some bright soul doesn’t simply combine them. After all, if police are constantly seizing, storing, then destroying dangerous illegal drugs at public expense why not simply used the evidence drugs that were to be destroyed as execution drugs? A massive megadose of pure heroin will surely do the job effectively and, given the drug’s popularity, the condemned might just enjoy the process. Even the most hardcore addict (and how would anybody be an addict after a long time on death row?) would quickly succumb to a 1000X dose and it wouldn’t take long.
Just for the record, I honestly respect your opinion on that.
I don’t share it- I really wish I could- But I truly appreciate that you are willing to take the moral choice rather than the practical one.
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