WHY Lethal Injections NEED to be given WITH the Murderer AWAKE!

[koodledrum]

Why don't we just cut their heads or hang them on the Times Square?

because IIRC the state of New York does not have the death sentence - do feel free to correct me. As for the OP, the lethal injection is given after the subject has been knocked out, does not preclude that it's absolutely painless only that the subject is not conscious to the fact and thus cannot (and subsequently does not) react in such a manner as to cause distress to the witnesses beyond that which is already caused. Further to that, executions are done in such a manner as the state, even in the most extreme case can be seen as being above the perpetrator - by rendering them unconscious it does not cause suffering therefore the state can say they may have indeed killed the perpetrator but they did so humanely in the name of justice. Think of it as killing, but taking the moral high ground in doing so unlike the perpetrator who generally just kills the person without giving a damn about thinking of such things.

[Rommon64]

Eye for an eye, and the whole world goes blind.

[Sole-Warrior]

Having a judicial system centred on revenge would be reactionary, infantile and unproductive. The necessity for impartiality in courts is to prevent emotions entering into and obscuring a judgement. The focus of punishment should be on crime prevention and keeping the community it serves safe, and nothing else.

The fact that lethal injections/capital punishment are still used in developed countries alone is astonishing.

scary yes, but unless you live in Texas its not very common.
I have issues with death penalty because an innocent man sentenced to life can be released when evidence they are innocent turns up, can be released. Once someone is killed, they cannot be revived.

[jbtuck]

If you don't want them being killed humanely, why on earth are you wanting them to be given the needle period? Starving them to death or setting them on fire would be far more painful.

I would suggest that you study philosophy so that you can think this issue out completely, this is not a dig to say learn more, there is a lot more to consider in this request. This is a complex issue with many far reaching consequences. You may or may not change your mind.. but you will be able to determine all of the inherited consequences that are made in this simple statement.

Name is too guessable... would rather this be anon...

[Giants41]

I remember my crazy 7th grade science teacher said "People sentenced to death should just be experimented on and be forced to test out new drugs."

[Rommon64]

Also, I do believe capital punishment actual costs more than life imprisonment per inmate.

[The Ogdru Jahad]

Taken from the dark knight, either you die fighting or live long enough to become the villain. You are no better than the murderer if you make him/her suffer for his crime. While I agree, justice should be equal punishment for an equal crime. It's hard to quantify what is "equal". Do you rape a rapist? Do you murder a murderer? How so? It's inhumane, and a more normalized system is better than using a case by case basis. The system works, leave it as is. But I'm for the end of the death sentence, it costs so much money.

[Morsker]

I am getting sick of all this "but he is a human we must treat him humanely" crap.
Ok ok YOU did not treat your victims humanely when you slashed his through or blew a hole through his head WHY SHOULD YOUR DEATH BE PAINLESS? ANSWER ME!

Because the details in how criminals are puinshed are unimportant. Most people find the kinds of punishments you're talking about gross, and so we don't do it. We don't kill criminals in pointlessly cruel ways, because we as a society don't want to. It's gross and we don't want to do it.

[Bigbamboozal]

OP...it still wouldn't bring anyone lost back.

[Deleted]

Do you understand how lethal injection actually works?

Lethal injection is administered while the victim (I choose my words carefully) is awake.

Three agents (Sodium thiopental, Pancuronium bromide and Potassium chloride) are injected in sequence. Firstly the victim is placed in a chemically induced coma, then paralyzed and begins to die of asphyxiation then subjected to a heart attack.

The issue is there is a strong body of evidence to suggest that Sodium thiopental wears off before the procedure is complete thus the victim begins to suffer from anesthetic awareness. In effect what happens is the person is fully away while being paralyzed and suffering a heart attack but is unable to show distress due to complete paralysis. The unpleasant side affect of potassium chloride poisoning is it induces a strong burning sensation that travels throughout the body as the agent circulates.

That doesn't sound like much fun to me. I won't even get into the whole death penalty argument but needless to say in my opinion there is no place for capital punishment in civilized society.

While human beings are capable of making mistakes, we should not give out punishments we cannot undo.

[Darckie]

... Society has to be better than the individual ...

An eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind (read your gandhi bro)

[The Casualty]

Justice and Retribution are not interchangeable terms.

Justice should be meted out without emotion to cloud the judgement - as in justice is (or should be) blind to bias, including that of wrath.

edit for quote

"punishment should follow a due process where the infraction is discussed, guilt determined beyond the shadow of doubt, and then dispensed without emotion or fanfare."

The only possible need for the guilty to suffer as they die is for sadistic satisfaction. I do not agree with the death penalty and find it morally abhorrent, but if it must be done, be quick about it.

[Sole-Warrior]

Or just this

OT: I agree with you. I'm not too fond of death penalty since innocent can get convicted but once you're already doing the the punishment it should be... painful.

there is very little evidence that cruelty reduces crime unfortunately. Countries that focus on rehab despite less harsh sentences have lower re incarceration rates then those which have a vengeance based justice system like the US.

[Deleted]

...and then it happens to an innocent man, unjustly convicted.

The death sentence is sketchy enough as is, get your jollies elsewhere.

[Deleted]

The Running Man. Make it happen!

[Sole-Warrior]

Because the details in how criminals are puinshed are unimportant. Most people find the kinds of punishments you're talking about gross, and so we don't do it. We don't kill criminals in pointlessly cruel ways, because we as a society don't want to. It's gross and we don't want to do it.

The punisher carrying out those punishments also will suffer severely from guild and depression.

[Baracuda]

Also, I do believe capital punishment actual costs more than life imprisonment per inmate.

That doesn't seem likely.

OT: If you want to make it quick and painless why don't you decapitate them instead of giving them poison? Derp.

there is very little evidence that cruelty reduces crime unfortunately. Countries that focus on rehab despite less harsh sentences have lower re incarceration rates then those which have a vengeance based justice system like the US.

We have that in Sweden and very low jail time for crimes. Also got highest or second highest rape in the world, without real punishment they just go break the law again.

[Loaf Lord]

Oh look, the brigade of people who think they're smart because they link famous philosopher quotes, how original. And if people truly think that taking the life of a murderer for the sake of protecting society makes them no better than the murderer... you live in a strange world.

[Keakee]

I don't think we should have lethal injection at all. No death penalty, period.

[Deleted]

I'd rather have a murderer rot in prison for the rest of their life. Death is too good for them, IMO...

Or stop ranking your desired treatment of them based on how much suffering it would inflict. What is constructive or progressive about causing deliberate harm to people? I would rather the empathetic view be taken. I have not heard of many criminals whose actions were entirely on whim; other factors need to be accounted for. What was their quality of life? Did they have a mental illness? Were they desperate, depressed?

Rather help people and attempt to bring them to a point where they could be safely reintroduced to society. In other words, stop being melodramatic about the problem and explore a solution.