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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   26205 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 22, 2024

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Over a decade ago, the BBC came out with a documentary titled How to Kill a Human Being that went into what the director believed to be the most humane and painless way to execute someone if you really wish to do so. Towards the end of the documentary, they interview someone who believes that death row criminals don’t deserve the most humane death possible because those criminals hardly offered their own victims a humane death. The documentary gives it an air of “Look, we’ve found a humane way to actually do executions, and these barbaric Americans don’t want to do that because to them, bloodthirsty cruelty is the point.”

Well, what do you know, Alabama has now actually implemented this “most humane” form of execution for the first time, and news coverage from the BBC and others have been almost exclusively negative. There’s little to no nuance, just statements that the UN and EU condemns this “particularly cruel and unusual punishment.” Where now is the context that the US is merely doing what it was previously criticized for not doing?

To be sure, the scene of thrashing does seem to be more violent than the documentary insinuated such an execution would be, but that itself appears to be because the inmate tried to forcibly hold their breath for as long as possible instead of allowing themselves to pass out from hypoxia. I wouldn’t pin the blame for voluntary thrashing on the method of execution.

What do you think? Am I wrong in reading this as just another case of “Americans can do nothing right”?

I've never understood why the guillotine isn't the most humane way. Big enough/fast enough pneumatic press with a big enough blade and there's few things plausibly more consistent.

It is debated if the death is instantaneous . It's also a spectacle and carries too much political historical baggage. Being put to death by guillotine adds more allure or notoriety than being gassed. Bugs get gassed by exterminators, being gassed strips one of any humanity in the process.

The problem is that any efficient and humane way of executing people inevitably ends up associated with death, and no method of doing anything works cleanly 100% of the time. Meanwhile, bleeding heart fervor to tear down the unjust tyranny of how things are done today to replace them with a bold, progressive, new, modern thing that has no visible downsides yet springs eternal.

The problem is that any efficient and humane way of executing people inevitably ends up associated with death,...

I advocate using lethal injection of alcohol as the means of execution. Injection? It is not that toxic, so it probably needs a big IV bag. Given the enthusiastic recreational use of alcohol, no-one can argue that it is a cruel method of execution. And to return to your point about the association with death, using alcohol sends a valuable public health message about the dangers of binge drinking. In the UK acute alcohol poisoning causes 500 or 600 deaths each year (out of about 6000 alcohol specific deaths, of which 78% are due to alcoholic liver disease). Some of those deaths might be avoided if people had a background awareness that alcohol is what is used for executions by lethal injection, which hints that heroic drinking might not be entirely safe.

The guillotine is one of the most humane ways for sure, it’s just tied up with the political context of its most famous use and with the gore of the viewer’s experience.

At least some of the people complaining are too squeamish to handle such violent scenes of death, much like with suicide and slaughterhouses. Death must be nice and clean so they aren't traumatized by it.

Theoretically, a press that is big enough and fast enough should work even better without a blade. I guess no one would want to clean up after the execution.

Ooh boy yeah no thanks. I guess you could automate a pressure wash system to blast everything down asap after the press, but at some point some poor chap is going to have to go over it with a chisel and a toothbrush once the detritus the pressure wash misses starts to build up.

I don't see why it would be any worse than the clean-up staff in a hospital has to deal with.

True, I was thinking of one poor guy whose job is keeping the press clean, but it would probably be a part of custodial work and one amongst many miserable jobs needing done.

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