Cruel and Unusual Death?
I’m following this death penalty case out in California out of the corner of my eye. There appear to be some concerns that the chemicals used to execute by lethal injection can cause several minutes of extreme pain before taking full effect, which has raised the possibility that lethal injection reaches the level of cruel and unusual punishment. Doctors in California have refused to sign off on the chemicals being used, so the state needs to come up with a different chemical cocktail.
I say I’m following it out of the corner of my eye because part of me thinks that once you reach the point of killing someone, how quickly you do it is almost a side issue. Intellectually I understand that it is not – that minimizing the suffering involved is vital if capital punishment is going to be an issue of justice rather than vengeance. But the exact how-it’s-done is not something that reaches me on an emotional level, because I question whether capital punishment can possibly be made to serve justice. But if this case opens up the field for a discussion of exactly what we hope to accomplish with the death penalty, then I’m all for it.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.
Tuesday, February 21st 2006 at 10:35 pm |
I am not a proponent of the death penalty at all, but if you are going to kill someone they should be using what we use in veterinary medicine. The euthanasia solution we use is very effecitve, very quick, and usually very peaceful.
Friday, February 24th 2006 at 4:41 pm |
Welcome aboard, Andrew. Any idea why those treatments wouldn’t be effective on a human being? And how much of a caveat is that “usually”?
Sunday, February 26th 2006 at 5:03 pm |
Usually means just that. Sometimes if an animal is not sedated, they have an initial reaction to the drug when it fist hits, mostly a jerking reaction. But soon after that, and I mean about 1 second, they relax and die. The drug hits the brain first, so by the time death actually occurs the animal is unaware. And it is quick, usually in seconds. I read somewhere that the human drug takes 11 minutes. Even in horses, enough of euthanasia solution will drop them in less then 20 seconds.