"There Is No Such Thing as a ‘Clean’ Execution," is Jesse Wegman's post at the New York Times Taking Note blog.
Several commenters took exception to a line in a Taking Note post last week about Ohio’s moratorium on executions, which followed a series of botched attempts there and elsewhere to kill inmates using lethal injection.
The post argued that “there’s no clean way to kill someone: either it’s quick and bloody, which has been deemed too ‘barbaric,’ or it involves cooked skin, accidental decapitation, gasping, snorting, choking and the like.”
"A Message to Texas Compounding Pharmacies: Kill secrets, not people," is by Marty Troyer at the Houston Chronicle's Peace Pastor blog. He is pastor of Houston Mennonite Church.
It’s no secret that Texas believes deeply in its right to kill, having done so more than any other state and already 7 times this year. It’s also no secret Texas thinks this actually works; as in, killing people gets you what you want, teaches people how wrong they are, and is a clear form of communication.
Which is exactly what most killers think: killing works. Elliot Rodger in southern California, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez at Fort Hood, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston, Adam Lanza in Newtown and the state of Texas all operate out of the same twisted and false narrative: that killing works: it gets you want you want, teaches people they are wrong, and is a clear form of communication.
What is a secret though, is where the drugs for our executions are made. Attorney General Greg Abbott has recently decided that Texas can keep our drug source secret, despite worries from those on death row, a botched execution in Oklahoma (that used different drugs), and the fact that the compounding pharmacy which makes the drug is not regulated.
The Berkshire Eagle in Massachusetts publishes commentary by Robert F. Jakubowicz, "The first 'humane' execution." It contains an abbreviated, and fascinating, history of the electric chair.
The public debate today in the wake of the Lockett case, should not be about trying to find an alternative method to execute criminals. It instead should be about eliminating the death penalty. There is no humane way to commit the ultimate cruelest act between humans, namely, the killing of a human in the name of the government by another human. This is government sanctioned homicide.
Additionally, the evidence is now clear that capital punishment does not deter crime. The death penalty is nothing more than punishment and keeping the public safe by permanently removing murderers from the streets. A better way to accomplish these objectives is Massachusetts’ sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
Earlier commentary begins at the link. Related posts are in the botch category index.
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