Tennessee is bringing back old sparky

[a_unique_person]

It isn't lack of oxygen that causes that panicky 'gasping for breath', but build-up of CO2. If the CO2 can be eliminated (or is so dilute it doesn't matter) the person goes woozy, unconcious, then dead. One source I read described the woozy phase as 'sleepy euphoria', or similar.

So a room full of an inert gas would be a painless way to go though, quite possibly distressing if you know what's happening.

One of those quirks of evolution. Rather than our bodies detecting a lack of oxygen, they detect an excess of CO2. It worked well enough during the stone age.

 

[MontagK505]

It isn't lack of oxygen that causes that panicky 'gasping for breath', but build-up of CO2. If the CO2 can be eliminated (or is so dilute it doesn't matter) the person goes woozy, unconcious, then dead. One source I read described the woozy phase as 'sleepy euphoria', or similar.

So a room full of an inert gas would be a painless way to go though, quite possibly distressing if you know what's happening.

You could carry out the execution while the person was asleep. I imagine the distress would be just as great while you are waiting for the clock to run out.

I recall a sci-fi short story where people under sentence of death (murder was the only capital crime) never knew exactly when the execution would be carried out. As I recall, you were followed everywhere by a killer robot, but you never knew when the machine would act. Oddly enough, this society had a very low murder rate.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I recall a sci-fi short story where people under sentence of death (murder was the only capital crime) never knew exactly when the execution would be carried out. As I recall, you were followed everywhere by a killer robot, but you never knew when the machine would act. Oddly enough, this society had a very low murder rate.

It would be hell applying for credit with your random-moment executioner robot following you around. "I'll take the whole living room set, please! No money down, right?" "Uh, I'm going to have to talk to my supervisor...."

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I also have no idea why people on Death Row are prevented from committing suicide.

Why do they take away their razors, shoelaces and belts? Why do they check on them all the time to make sure they don't kill themselves? Why do they force-feed them when they go on a hunger strike?

Why is it that when they are in a near-fatal car accident on their way to the execution, they transport them to a hospital and do everything they can to save their life? Why?! So that they can kill 'em themselves? You'd think the employees would love having the job done for them. I'd certainly love it if someone at my place of work occasionally did my job for me and spared me the fuss and bother.

Let them kill themselves. That's actually the perfect solution. If the car flips on the way to the needle-stick and nearly kills the man, don't do anything to save him. Wait around until that "nearly" becomes "fully."

 

[Corsair 115]

I also have no idea why people on Death Row are prevented from committing suicide.

I would think it's because it'd be considered by some as the prisoner cheating their assigned punishment, which is execution. Not unlike how Hermann Göring escaped being hanged for his war crimes by committing suicide.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Ok, that's true.

If it were up to me, though, they would be allowed (even actively encouraged) to kill themselves.

Though they are the scum of the Earth, they should be afforded some dignity in death. They should be allowed to have honor. Suicide is much more dignified than being forcibly strapped to a stretcher.

Also, it would save the state a lot of hassle and expense. And it wouldn't traumatize the executioners for life. Their conscience would be pretty much spotless. They would feel "Meh, I didn't kill the guy. He killed himself."

 

[MontagK505]

Ok, that's true.

If it were up to me, though, they would be allowed (even actively encouraged) to kill themselves.

Though they are the scum of the Earth, they should be afforded some dignity in death. They should be allowed to have honor. Suicide is much more dignified than being forcibly strapped to a stretcher.

Also, it would save the state a lot of hassle and expense. And it wouldn't traumatize the executioners for life. Their conscience would be pretty much spotless. They would feel "Meh, I didn't kill the guy. He killed himself."

This is one of the reasons the French used the guillotine during the revolution. By using a machine you deprive the person you are executing of any pretense of dignity or honor.

 

[Toke]

It isn't lack of oxygen that causes that panicky 'gasping for breath', but build-up of CO2. If the CO2 can be eliminated (or is so dilute it doesn't matter) the person goes woozy, unconcious, then dead. One source I read described the woozy phase as 'sleepy euphoria', or similar.

So a room full of an inert gas would be a painless way to go though, quite possibly distressing if you know what's happening.

This is a very real problem for welders using inert gas (Argon) to protect the welding in enclosed spaces.

One thing I wondered about is why no states uses heroin for executions?
There is plenty of pure stuff in evidence lockers and it is not supposed to cause any suffering even in non-lethal/botched doses.

 

[Pulvinar]

Heroin makes sense to me too. As I see it, the problem isn't the method of execution but the conflict between those who want them to suffer and those who don't.

The solution is to carry out the execution by whatever means is most efficient, then report to the first group that their suffering must have lingered on for hours (you just couldn't tell), and to the second group that they went out with a smile, surely with pictures of fluffy kittens as their last thoughts…

 

[marplots]

Heroin makes sense to me too. As I see it, the problem isn't the method of execution but the conflict between those who want them to suffer and those who don't.

The solution is to carry out the execution by whatever means is most efficient, then report to the first group that their suffering must have lingered on for hours (you just couldn't tell), and to the second group that they went out with a smile, surely with pictures of fluffy kittens as their last thoughts…

These are the same thing.

 

[Caper]

Here's an alien thought -- how about zero executions by any method dreamed up by mankind?

Screw that.

 

[Cainkane1]

They ought to do away with lethal injecton in every state of the union. Many of the murderers and rapist are lifelong drug users who have ruined their veins beyond repair.

Electrocution is painless and quick. So is hanging. Both are very reliable of disposing of them. No need to postpone an electrocution or a hanging.

 

[MontagK505]

They ought to do away with lethal injecton in every state of the union. Many of the murderers and rapist are lifelong drug users who have ruined their veins beyond repair.

Electrocution is painless and quick. So is hanging. Both are very reliable of disposing of them. No need to postpone an electrocution or a hanging.

The guillotine is a simpler method and very quick and doesn't take a lot of training to use. A helmet filled with an inert gas with a CO2 scrubber attached would also be painless. But, the machinery is more complex and would require some training to use.

 

[shuttlt]

The number of animals we routinely kill, surely we've got this process down... If we actually want to do it properly. The issue has got to be that painless, error free, suffering free executions aren't actually the aim of the process.

 

[GlennB]

The issue has got to be that painless, error free, suffering free executions aren't actually the aim of the process.

Yes. There are methods (the nitrogen chamber, say) that are distressing in that the sufferer knows they're about to die. But that's always the case, and knowing you're about to be electrocuted, hanged or guillotined must surely add to that distress mightily. Those events are pretty much turned into celebrations ceremonies.

That we choose horribly distressing methods speaks volumes about our motivation in performing the act at all.

The convict facing execution could quite easily have a hypnotic drug slipped into their food or drink at some random time so they don't even see the event coming.

 

[MontagK505]

The number of animals we routinely kill, surely we've got this process down... If we actually want to do it properly. The issue has got to be that painless, error free, suffering free executions aren't actually the aim of the process.

Yes, we routinely kill animals although the creatures comfort is not a high priority, minimal fuss is. Cattle, are killed with a gun that fires a bolt into the cows brain. This would likely work with humans as well.

 

[marplots]

Yes, we routinely kill animals although the creatures comfort is not a high priority, minimal fuss is. Cattle, are killed with a gun that fires a bolt into the cows brain. This would likely work with humans as well.

In laboratory settings, when sacrificing animals is part of the experimental protocol, it's of some concern to make it as painless as possible. Maybe the methods are scalable.

 

[MontagK505]

Yes. There are methods (the nitrogen chamber, say) that are distressing in that the sufferer knows they're about to die. But that's always the case, and knowing you're about to be electrocuted, hanged or guillotined must surely add to that distress mightily. Those events are pretty much turned into celebrations ceremonies.

That we choose horribly distressing methods speaks volumes about our motivation in performing the act at all.

The convict facing execution could quite easily have a hypnotic drug slipped into their food or drink at some random time so they don't even see the event coming.

We could put purge their cell of oxygen and CO2 while they sleep. It would have the same effect.

 

[tsig]

It's gallows humour.

A necktie party.

 

[Toke]

Once upon a time when I was on container ships we wondered if US customs and their reputed combination on ignorance and arrogance* would have them walk into a controlled atmosphere 40" container to inspect it.

They would have needed an angle grinder for the safety interlock, and a boxcutter for the gas curtain, but would then have found themselfes in an 5% o2 and 2% co2 mix.

*Somewhat extrapolated from experience with coastguard port state inspectors.

Dialling the settings down to 0 could get you a mobile gas chamber using existing and easy to use technology. (It is based on an compressor and a filter fine enough to separate n2 and o2.)

Your prisoner could be escorted/dragged into the container by guards wearing emergency escape re-breathers, another off the shelf component.

It is not like there is a shortage on options.