Death penalty.

[CurlewKate]

Why don't they use an anaesthetic? Then do whatever barbaric thing they're going to.

Could be argued it’s nothing short of what a rapist deserves?. Isn’t what they’ve done to their victims barbaric?

Sympathy lies with rapists, child killers, murderers evidently.

Thanks. I agree.

Also agree 100%. My sympathy lies with nly with victims.

Elsewhere, ‘it’s barbaric’ that someone that could’ve raped & killed someone’s daughter, mother, sister & ruined lives forever, is also killed.

Elsewhere, ‘it’s barbaric’ that someone that could’ve raped & killed someone’s daughter, mother, sister & ruined lives forever, is also killed.

Nobody disagrees that those things are barbaric. It is, of course, possible to believe that more than one thing is barbaric, that the state should never be given to power to kill its own citizens and that those who bay for the blood of another human being are beneath contempt.

For me, it's not about anything other than the fact that killing is wrong and only justifiable in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

There is a really interesting podcast on BBC sounds. It's really difficult to source the drugs used in executions. One of the few suppliers is a pharmacist in the uk.

It's called Killing death row.

Do you want to give it a go and then try and get a message back to let us know? Short of someone doing that I'm not sure how anyone can say if it an easy or hard experience.

What about the ones who are innocent but still get executed? Any sympathy for them?

So I agree with you on one front.

But what always stops me is thinking that those people (the odd woman too) are also someone’s children.

Murdering another mother’s son just adds to the suffering in the world.

I’m all for chemical castration and a life rotting in a cell. But don’t kill them.

those who bay for the blood of another human being are beneath contempt.

This is where I depart from the anti-death penalty arguments - despite being firmly against it for lots of other reasons.

It’s not morally wrong to believe in execution after proper process of trial, conviction and appeal for appalling crimes. And it certainly isn’t a matter of contempt for those who do believe in it.

It doesn’t do the anti-capital punishment arguments any good to be framed in these terms. It’s the mirror of the foolish “you’re on the side of the rapists and murderers” statements.

It’s optics stopping them, not ethics.

But executioners don’t get to choose who they kill 🙄 That’s the bloody point.

C1N1C · Today 14:27

That's why they are using nitrogen. Believe it or not, it IS painless and absolutely as cheap as chips. I'd opt for that any day.

It's the method of delivery which is the problem here. I work in an industry, where safety is promoted heavily and we were once shown a video of a terrible series of deaths, where a group of workers were supposed to clean a petrochemical tank, which had been flushed with nitrogen.

It was filmed as an instructional video. Unfortunately, the nitrogen hadn't been flushed, on guy put his head into the aperture and passed out, falling in. Another went to grab him and the same happened to him, then the next guy tried to grab the second and passed out, but was rescued - he recovered.

Immersion into pure nitrogen apparently causes instant unconsciousness. Pumping it through a mask doesn't.

And no, I'm not pro death penalty, but if they continue to use it, it should at least be quick and humane.

BlastedPimples · Today 14:48

And the number of people who have been mistakenly executed, very young (see Emmett Till) or having mental health problems also needs to be taken into account.

Exactly. In the USA, an executed prisoner, convicted 70 years ago has just been exonerated. He was 14 years old. There have been too many freed in recent years; the death penalty doesn't allow that.

Yes absolutely I have lots of sympathy for them & it’s beyond horrific for them & their families.

Beyond doubt executions (of which there have been many) absolutely zero sympathy from me.

Bring back hanging.

'The processes of judicial hanging.
There are four main forms of hanging.
• Short drop hanging where the prisoner drops just a few inches, and their suspended body weight and physical struggling causes the noose to tighten, normally resulting in death by strangulation or carotid or Vagal reflex. Pole hanging is a variation on this method.
• Suspension hanging where the executee is lifted into the air using a crane or other mechanism. Death is caused in the same way as with short drop hanging.
• Standard drop hanging where the prisoner drops a predetermined amount, typically 4-6 feet, which may or may not break their neck. This was the normal method adopted in America in the later 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Finally, measured or “long drop” hanging which became universal in Britain from 1874, where the distance the person falls when the trapdoors open is calculated according to their weight, height and physique and is designed to break the neck. This method was adopted in British Colonies and by some other countries who wished to make executions more humane.

I am constantly amazed at the number of people who seem to think it's impossible for the human brain to contain more than one thought at once.

Then dont have do the job, no-one is forcing them are they, get a different job, shouldnt that be the point?!

I would have thought that with the advances in DNA, technology and forensics and with CCTV almost everywhere, there would be very little doubt these days. Cold cases are closing in on murderers 50 years after the event because of this.

Firing squad could be an answer. The whole purpose was to prevent individual guilt as no-one knew for sure who fired the lethal bullet and several rounds were fired by each protagonist anyway.

To be honest I've gone from someone appalled by the death sentence to being so sickened by the world and human behaviour that I'm beginning to wonder.

The advances in technology are not foolproof. Too many mistakes have already been made.

The death penalty is not a deterrent nor is it morally justifiable. At all.

As for sympathy with the victims, that goes without saying. Always.

Jeez you’re not getting it are you.

“Murderers and rapists have by their actions rescinded their human rights and so I’m in favour of the death penalty. But I’m not going to do it, someone else can.”

This is essentially what you’re saying and what I find so reprehensible. Not to mention the very real possibility of killing the wrong person.

Do you not think every generation has thought that? In the last few weeks three innocent people have been released after being convicted in relatively recent times. Miscarriages of justice will definitely happen; just admit that your sympathy for some deaths of innocent people has less of an influence on your morals than your lust for revenge.

Getting what? I never said what you have quoted, have I?! Can you not read or understand?

I quite clearly said if someone murdered ( not raped, no idea where that came from! someone i loved, on purpose (therefore GUILTY), i would be first in line to execute them. I wouldn't expect someone else to do it, unless they chose that job and knew what they would be doing. AGAIN, no-one makes them, they applied for the role and accepted it.

On a practical note, convictions for murder and guilty pleas drop dramatically in jurisdictions with the death penalty due to jurors, being human, worrying about sending an innocent person to their death.

@Thudercatsrule "I quite clearly said if someone murdered ( not raped, no idea where that came from! someone i loved, on purpose (therefore GUILTY), i would be first in line to execute them."

I am absolutely sure many of us would. Which is why, thankfully, we have a judicial system and the law is not in the hands of the loved ones of the victims.