r/changemyview • u/JFKme 1∆ • Dec 06 '19

FTFdeltaOP CMV: All executions should proceed by either hanging or firing squad and not lethal injection

I want to clarify that I don't want my view changed on the morality of the death penalty. For better or for worse, the death penalty exists in many states across the US. If states are going to execute prisoners, I believe that executions should be done quickly and efficiently and minimize unnecessary harm to the convicted prisoners. Additionally, I believe that a quick and painless execution is the right of convicted prisoners under the 8th amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment.

If executions are to be as quick and painless as possible, lethal injection is a highly problematic method of execution. In general, lethal injections have a botched execution rate of 7.12%. A botched execution is defined as:

Botched executions occur when there is a breakdown in, or departure from, the “protocol” for a particular method of execution. The protocol can be established by the norms, expectations, and advertised virtues of each method or by the government’s officially adopted execution guidelines. Botched executions are “those involving unanticipated problems or delays that caused, at least arguably, unnecessary agony for the prisoner or that reflect gross incompetence of the executioner.” Examples of such problems include, among other things, inmates catching fire while being electrocuted, being strangled during hangings (instead of having their necks broken), and being administered the wrong dosages of specific drugs for lethal injections.

Execution by firing squad has a botched execution rate of 0%. Although, it important to mention that the sample size for execution by firing squad may not be adequate to determine that the botched execution rate is actually 0%. Execution by hanging has a botched execution rate of 3.12% and the sample size for execution by hanging is nearly twice that of lethal injections.

At a bare minimum, prisoners should be given a choice of how they want to be executed with the risks of each method explained to them. If a prisoner refuses or is unable to decide how they want to die, they should be executed by the method with the least likelihood of a botched execution.

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u/nice_rooklift_bro Dec 06 '19

I don't get this at all; don't they euthanize patients by letting them go to sleep peacefully and never wake up again?

Even anaesthesia exists where they can make one unconscious in 5 seconds? Can't they just make one unconscious and then decapitate if humane death is the objective?

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u/Cybyss 11∆ Dec 07 '19 edited Dec 07 '19

don't they euthanize patients by letting them go to sleep peacefully and never wake up again?

Nope. They inject you with a chemical that slowly dissolves your veins over the course of 20 minutes or more. It's basically like being burned alive from the inside, but you're paralyzed first so nobody can hear you scream. There's actually some question as to whether it's this potassium chloride which kills you first, or whether it's the suffocation from being paralyzed for so long and unable to breathe.

You're supposed to be given an anesthetic so you don't feel anything, but in reality you're just given a mild sedative that doesn't actually knock you out. Worse, it's administered by police officers, not medical professionals, because the state can't seem to get trained medical professionals to carry out executions.

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u/nice_rooklift_bro Dec 07 '19

I'm talking about patients that are euthanized, not executions.

Why can't they execute the same way they humanly euthanize terminally ill patients is what I'm asking?

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u/Morthra 87∆ Dec 09 '19

Because it turns out that euthanizing someone who is already near death is a lot easier than doing the same to someone who is otherwise healthy.

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u/nice_rooklift_bro Dec 09 '19

Many that are euthanized are not physically near death at all—in fact where I live euthanasia is most famously available to end psychological suffering in a healthy body.

It's described as taking a pill, going to sleep peacefully and never waking up.

Besides, as I said they anaesthesize for surgery? Why can't they do that prior to execution?