The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 on Monday to uphold a procedure used by states to carry out executions by lethal injection.
The justices were considering a challenge brought by death-row inmates in Oklahoma, who allege that the use of a sedative called midazolam has resulted in troubling executions that violate the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Problematic executions in Oklahoma and elsewhere have captured national headlines since early last year.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority that included Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
That’s the long and short of it. Part of the problem is being able to obtain lethal injection drugs because of the European community. I have a few questions;
Why can’t we make our own lethal injection drugs? What do we use to euthanize our pets? Why can’t those drugs be used on those being executed? It’s a lot kinder than what they did to someone. One of the criminals in question raped and killed an 11 month old. That that is one sick, depraved bastard. Who cares if he writhes around a little. Oooops.
Good job on this one, Supremes.
Why does the US still have capital punishment?
Quora reports following stats re DEVELOPED countries and death penalty (2010)
USA (46+)
Taiwan (4)
Japan (2)
Singapore (1)
Because some people commit horrible, heinous crimes. What would you do with someone who rapes and kills an 11 month old? I would probably volunteer to pull the switch,
Why use injections at all.
Put them in a chamber.
Substitute the air with nitrogen for 30 minutes.
Done.
Realistically, we are talking about lethal injection.
Shooting or hanging would be fine, if we make the social decision that we should have capital punishment. The use of drugs was an attempt to sanitize an otherwise messy business. Shooting and hanging, assuming some degree of competency in these arcane arts, are less prone to painful errors. Nonetheless, I can’t imagine many situations in which life imprisonment would be more of an attention-getting punishment than execution. This is particularly true of mass murderers who are motivated by the thought that they get some sort of reward in Heaven for their crimes.
If we are to have death as punishment, the “ceremony” ought to be
public for all to see. As it is now, it takes place around midnight in some
basement room, which to me proves that it’s something to be ashamed of.
And, Moon, no, I would not pull a switch or anything similar, because I would
not be able to kill anybody unless that person threatened a child of mine.
I feel that the noble people of Charleston set an example for us to follow.
Virginia’s executions usually take place around 9 pm.
I want conclusive evidence, like DNA, that we have the right person. After that, there are some crimes so heinous and depraved I simply don’t care about keeping that person alive. When I was a young woman I opposed the death penalty. I got over that.
I am not sure I would really want t pull the switch for real. In my head I do which is as close as I will probably get to the situation.
The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment and is unconstitutional.
Civilized people (and countries) don’t kill.
It’s time to dismantle the prison-industrial complex.
Don’t be absurd. What people do to get the death penalty is cruel and unusual in most cases.
The death penalty is rooted in out dated religious ‘eye for an eye’ mentality and has no place in a civilized country.
Over 100 countries have abolished the death penalty. Only 38 active murder people. The US is the only G7 country that murders people.
The death penalty is disproportionately used against People of Color, so it violates the 8th and 14th amendments. The Warren court was right to outlaw it. Outlawing state sponsored murder is the first step towards real justice reform. Like Major DeBlassio’s efforts to eliminate jail for all non-violent offenders. Stop warehousing PoC to make profits for the prison-industrial complex.
Stop the war on People of Color at home and abroad.
#BanTheBox
“Who cares if he writhes around a little. Oooops.” YIKES!! Someone is turning into a conservative!!! Rick Bentley DOES live on!! I guess I won’t even mention the word “compassionate”… OOPS!!
“The death penalty is rooted in out dated religious ‘eye for an eye’ mentality and has no place in a civilized country. ” Some say that the death penalty is “punishment”… and not “revenge” (an eye for an eye). But… I have no prob with “revenge”. If someone hits you in the nose, the best thing to do is hit them back!! It’s called “negative reinforcement”. It “discourages” them from doing it again! It is completely within the laws of mother nature. If someone commits the ultimate crime (murder), then I have no prob with them being “murdered”. As to “a war on People of Color”, I think we should look at all the facts. If “someone” (regardless of color) commits a crime, then that person should pay. If more People of Color are being killed, then that tells me more People of Color are committing crimes.
Punishment for the sale of equivalent amount of crack cocaine versus powdered cocaine was widely disparate because people of color used crack and members of the majority used cocaine.
The broken windows police enforcement strategy of coming down hard on every crime was implemented only in the racial minority neighborhoods. People elsewhere didn’t get arrested for littering or loitering.
Crime stats by race reflect both the criminal actions of minorities and the enforcement actions of the majority via police and the justice system. One can as easily make the case that statistical disparity reflects systemic racial bias rather than that people of color are more criminally minded than the racial majority.
Beheading requires no drugs, unless, of course, the sword wielder has a near miss. Hanging can have some problems-if the drop is too short, the strangulation can be a problem. If it is too long, decapitation can result. Firing squads can produce the required results provided everyone is a pretty good shot. One shot to the back of the head has pretty reliable results. Garroting works but it just takes a little longer. Hemlock had its day, perhaps it could be brought back. Perhaps someone could channel Socrates to ask him how it went. A cyanid capsule, carefully crunched between the upper and lower second and third molars has worked for many. Thallium poisoning, such as that used on Alexander Levitninko can do the job but it is terribly slow. An overdose of heroin could be a last resort but getting approval to use an illicit drug could be an issue. Bring back Old Sparky or the Gas Chamber–As they told Barbara Graham, “When you hear the pellets drop, count to ten, it’s easier that way.” Her response, “How would you know?”
Anything that has a disparate impact on People of Color violates the 14th Amendment. The incarceration rates for PoC shows that our criminal justice system is racist. Everyone should support the efforts to eliminate jail time for non-violent offenders and the Ban The Box movement so that people with an arrest record aren’t locked out of the job market.
More People of Color aren’t committing crimes. We are criminalizing things and increasing sentences to target People of Color. Thankfully, it looks like we may be seeing some movement on that from President Obama, who is reportedly looking at a very large clemency program for non-violent “criminals” There are hundreds of thousands of non-violent “criminals” who should be walking the streets right now.
Sarcasm does not become you, Furby. I am going to stop reading your posts.
What am I being sarcastic about? Ed Myers and I are basically saying the same thing. I’d be happy to provide as many links as you’d like for other people who have the same position as my on the racial imbalance in our justice system. Do you think I made up the Ban the Box movement? Do you find the idea of no jail for non-violent offenders a problem? Because plenty of people are pushing for it now as an offshoot of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Or is it that I said that President Obama is considering some form of a clemency program for non-violent offenders? He is, at least according to some press reports. But it’s likely to only be a few thousand, not the hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders that it should be.
So what am I being sarcastic about?
I guess I am just not used to the frontal lobotomy. Was it painful?
I’m sorry to see that you equate current Progressive thoughts on justice with brain injury.
I’ve explained my political conversion several times already, so I won’t do it again.
You should spend more time reading Dailykos, and less time watching Faux News.