Absolutely appalled by Kenneth Eugene Smith's execution

[Haunting10]

Appalled is too soft a word. I feel physically sick and angry.

What a sick world we live in.

I am against the death penalty. One person wrongly convicted and sentenced to death is too many. This particular case sounds like torture, and to use what the Nazis used on millions, its just disturbing on so many levels.

I keep thinking about it. But what can we do? I'm in UK, and expect any activism will be happening in US.

What will happen to the state of Alabama? Surely something must be done. This was not human.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

The post I quoted said

"where there is no doubt, as in this case, I think for murder or severe cases of sexual abuse, or acts of terrorism, I would support it"

The key words in this sentence are "where there is no doubt...."

It is a complicated one this one because there was a botched attempt at using lethal injection. Then as part of the settlement this method was agreed upon - potentially by Smith because he thought it would not be seen as being ok and therefore spare him.

I respectfully but massively disagree. I'm glad he suffered. Many, many years too late. People like Ian Huntley, Brian Kohberger (IF guilty), Yorkshire Ripper & Moira Hunslet et al should all have/be given the exact same. They did farrrrrr worse to their innocent victims.

How would you deter someone who is happy to murder someone he had never met for $1000 though?

Would you have personally been able to kill them? Which method would you choose? Could you stand there while they struggled and expired?

logically as well as ethically and ideologically, the death penalty makes little sense. It’s largely impossible to operate ethically because one is trying to reconcile right to appeal, which will entail long time served in prison just waiting, with justice. The psychological torture inflicted on a prisoner is liable to more than equal crimes they committed. The person executed after serving a long prison sentence is arguably not - psychologically - the person who committed the crime. The capacity for reform and atonement is removed. Yes, a certain blood lust revenge is served, but a deterrent impact is unproven (especially in unpremeditated acts of murder). Were we to hear of a serial killer who imprisoned his victims for years, told them how and when they would die, brought them to the brink of death only to stop and leave them once again waiting for them to find another method of killing them, we’d be rightly outraged. That all this is done by the state makes it no less horrifying.

In fairness, I expect that an execution cell needs a thorough clean up, regardless of how the execution was carried out.

I rather wonder why the guillotine isn’t used. It’s probably cheaper than getting hold of lethal injection drugs.

This isn't relevant to this specific case as I don't know his background, but 2/3 of the men and women on death row in America suffered sustained childhood sexual abuse that for many of them carried onto adulthood. 94% of the suffered childhood physical abuse.

Essentially the state has failed them for many many years as children and now that that has inconveniently played out to the worst case senario the state is cleaning up by killing them

So in many cases, yes, prevention would be the better option in protecting these people as children so they aren't abused and beaten. That might not stop all of them, but it could stop a proportion of them. Just killing them off when they are adults after they have done the crimes is a cop out by the state.

Cleaning up possible urine etc from a lethal injection type execution (if that is even an issue) isn't quite the same as blithely expecting someone to be comfortable and not traumatised by having to pick up someone's severed head to clean up...

So beautifully put, yes surely the waiting is the most torturous hideous part of this story

This.
He didn’t have to murder anyone.

I would imagine if you put the job advert up the queue would be quite long to apply.

I bet a lot of people would even do it for free.

People who are willing and enthusiastic to kill people, especially for free, thinking that it wouldn't affect them have far more in common with the murderers on death row than they care to admit

And in reality they often struggle to fill the role of executioner in the US with volunteers from the staff and often have to force staff to take part. Those which have take part have had to be treated for PTSD, nightmares, cold sweats, insomnia, depression, inability to maintain relationships, changes in personality and obsessive compulsive disorder

So anyone queuing up for free to kill someone like it's a jolly day out is naive or a psychopath, and anyone who makes flippant comments implying it would be easy are being incredibly disrespectful to those who have been forced into a postion of having to do this and have suffered as a result.

Get a grip.. how has anyone been forced?

If it was against their principals would they not change career?

Ask many mothers and I bet a lot would personally press set the process rolling for child killers.

People say the same that most people couldn't kill animals for food yet thousands work in the meat trade.

I imagine it's the sort of thing people like to say they would do but would actually find it deeply traumatic in reality

I'm taking my information from the words of the people who have been put in this postion

If you think you know better than them then that's your perogative

If you think that many mothers would line up to be executioners then I wonder how you square that with the actual lack of people volunteering in real life in these cases

But again, I am taking the facts from the people in this situation and from the data around that. If you think you know better than them and think there are hordes of mothers lining up ready to execute prisoners then that's your perogative

Anyway don't mind me, I will be off shopping for the grip I apparently need because I dared to believe facts

Exactly

I mean, we're talking about a country that criminalises women who've suffered miscarriages, has no minimum age of marriage in some places, and prosecutes underage victims of sex trafficking. Oh, and employment laws are shite. The whole place is a mess. Add in the death penalty and I just give up. (Obviously some states are better than others, just thinking about things I've read about in the past few months.)

Still glad we don't have the death penalty over here. I believe it was the EU banning the export of the drugs used in lethal injections to the USA that's been causing issues. Well done to them!

Well cry me a river

How would you ensure that there was never any doubt?

Someone has to pick up the corpse, regardless of how they are executed. I expect the electric chair used to create a lot of mess - spit froth, urine and blood. People who work on death row need to be fairly hardened.

Is it more traumatic to witness a slow, unpleasant death and have just the corpse to pick up or to witness a fast death but have to pick up the corpse and the head?

Picking up a corpse and picking up a severed head covered in blood is not the same thing, but its easy to have a casual attitude when you know its not you who will have to do it

We know a family (sons are close to my sons) who lost another son in a violent unprovoked attack. I would happily press the button (or whatever) and not flinch. My other half works in rehabilitation with violent offenders. Most of them attend the classes as a box ticking exercise for themselves and their possible parole. They have no intention of being rehabilitated and in a lot of cases this would be impossible owing to violent childhoods. Just saying x

Yes the wider public have a very naive view of this type of offenders, that like everyone else they’re ‘good’ inside; if only we could provide the rehabilitation they need to unlock it.

One in a thousand may be capable of change, but the vast majority are frankly evil people who are incapable of normal human emotion or empathy. They know objectively things are wrong but feel zero guilt and just don’t care. They may be able to tick a few boxes by giving the right answers for their own benefit but they’ll never ever be ‘rehabilitated’.

Until you meet them it isn’t something you can wrap your head around - if every person you’ve known has been generally good on a level it’s basically impossible to understand.