Death penalty supporters: Do you oppose use of the guillotine?

[John Dibble]

From the intraweb:

The following report was written by a Dr. Beaurieux, who experimented with the head of a condemned prisoner by the name of Henri Languille, on June 28, 1905:[4]

"Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. This phenomenon has been remarked by all those finding themselves in the same conditions as myself for observing what happens after the severing of the neck...

I waited for several seconds. The spasmodic movements ceased. [...] It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: 'Languille!' I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions – I insist advisedly on this peculiarity – but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in everyday life, with people awakened or torn from their thoughts.

Next Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not, then, dealing with the sort of vague dull look without any expression, that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. After several seconds, the eyelids closed again[...].

It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time. Then there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted the effect of a third call; there was no further movement – and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead."


For a more technical explanation: http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/bldyk10.htm

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So, I would think I would rather have myself put to sleep painlessly than live as a severed head for ~13 seconds.

[John Dibble]

Why would they oppose it? It's just as inhumane as any other means of execution.

So you view a painless lethal injection the same way as say, oh, I dunno, hurling stones at a person until they die? Or how about cutting someone with a rusty knife until they bleed to death? Or how about starvation or dehydration as a means of execution?

[John Dibble]

So you view a painless lethal injection

It's not always painless

Neither is the guillotine. I remember hearing about one instance in which the guillotine didn't cut all the way through and it actually had to be pushed down by the executioners to finish the job. And I wouldn't want to live for even thirteen seconds as a severed head, painless or not - that would just be f**king freaky. If I ever need to be executed I'd rather have the needle thank you very much. If you had a choice would you rather the guillotine?

In general lethal injections will be painless, and I view it as the most humane method we have available to us. Sometimes something might go wrong, but that's the case with pretty much every method we have now unfortunately. Thusly, I'll support the method I think will be the most painless and has a low rate of error.

For that matter life in jail isn't exactly painless either - it's living out the rest of your days in a place full of society's worst. You could be beaten, stabbed, anally raped, etc. Thinking on that, prison isn't exactly humane either, and some might view living there for life as worse than death.

Let's just face it, pretty much any punishment we could give for a serious crime isn't going to be a painless one. Frankly, I think those who commit capital crimes like rape and murder should just thank their lucky stars that the justice system actually makes considerations for making their as deaths painless as possible.

[John Dibble]

Anybody who argues a "humane" way to put someone to death as a punishment is screwed in the head, in my view.

Well, should we argue that we want it to be as painful as possible then? In that case let's just torture them instead of executing them.

As far as I'm concerned the death penalty's main purpose is to rid society of someone who's commited a crime so depraved that it shows they are so dangerous that they'd even pose a danger to the prison gaurds and inmates, not to maliciously hurt them. So if we must put someone to death, we don't need to do it in savage and brutal ways. If we did we wouldn't be much better than the criminals, now would we?

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Hey, I don't make the laws - if you feel the need to off yourself in that situation I wouldn't object.