That's the title of a post by Scott Christianson at the Washington Post Political Bookworm blog. He's also the author of The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber, published earlier this year.
Americans do not see themselves as blood-thirsty, cruel or punitive people. An ethos of exceptionalism coats their wars and punishments with divine blessing.
Yet America’s enduring use of the death penalty — the United States is one of the few Western countries that still resort to executions — and the fact that it imprisons more of its citizens than any other, stands in stark contrast.
The contradictions inherent in America’s naïve self-image are exemplified in the 20th-century history of the rise and fall of the gas chamber.
And:
In 1994, a U.S. district court held that execution by lethal gas was so egregious that it violated the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishments.
But the decline of lethal gas didn’t end capital punishment here. By then a newer, “better” method of execution had been instituted. In place of gassing or electrocution, most states adopted “medicalized” lethal injection.
Although most advanced nations have outlawed the death penalty, several states and the U.S. government continue to execute selected criminals by needle.
Following our example, the world’s leading executioner — China — has also begun employing lethal injection on a large but undisclosed scale, giving the method new life.But lethal injection is coming under increasing fire as a flawed method, prompting many observers to wonder when Americans will discard it too for another technology.
In a country that wages wars while hiding war’s costs, and which increasingly relies on drones to do its killing (as if human beings are not responsible for war’s deadly destruction), “more advanced” and “humane” methods of execution hold special appeal.
More from Christianson begins with the post, "A Notorious Nevada First."
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