TN returns to electric chair (if no drugs are available for lethal injection)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm neutral on the death penalty but I never understood why we can't just use firing squad.  It seems like it's one of the quickest ways to die by far.

The psychological issues in serving on such a squad is quite obvious (even with the tradition of loading one rifle at random with blanks), but in general execution methods tend to be rejected more on association than any actual issues with it. Hanging if done properly is actually a pretty quick and painless (plus cheap) method of execution, but its association with lynching is why it's not going to ever take off in the US again. Any form of gas chamber, even using nitrogen instead of toxic chemicals is going to seem reminiscent of Nazis. And firing squads also bring to mind Stalinist purges or modern day China. So to pretend like the US is different when it executes people it mostly goes with lethal injection which has no such connotations and is probably the most expensive execution method possible. Kind of silly. I can't really get around it being OK to kill people but it's just not OK to kill them in this way, because "bad people" did it or it looks bad. Easier to just oppose capital punishment altogether.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm neutral on the death penalty but I never understood why we can't just use firing squad.  It seems like it's one of the quickest ways to die by far.

The psychological issues in serving on such a squad is quite obvious (even with the tradition of loading one rifle at random with blanks)

I never understood the purpose of one rifle loaded with blanks. It only results in man wondering for his entire life "was my rifle loaded with blanks or real bullets? Was I the one who fired the fatal shot? I wish I knew for sure..."

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Very true observation.

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The problem is that, unlike British, the United States never adopted a proper table of drops, resulting in ghastly spectacles more often than not (that's why your state abolished the death penalty). After all, this was a reason hanging has been largely surpassed by electrocution.

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Personally, lethal injection was always reminding me of Nazi euthanasia of "undesirable elements" but most of the people seems to think of it as an originally American idea (ironically, given the gas chamber was an originally American idea; the Nazis just expanded it).

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I totally agree with you on this.

[politicallefty]

I think most Americans that support the death penalty basically just want to have their cake and eat it too. That's almost certainly why lethal injection has been so commonplace. That's not to mention use of the otherwise unnecessary pancuronium bromide. It medicalizes the execution and makes it easy for the public, basically masking what is actually happening. As others have mentioned, if it were really about quick and so-called humane (I'm not sure how an execution can really ever be called humane), the guillotine would've been adopted many years ago. Many just don't want to accept what they are doing and supporting.

As a method, I suppose an actual firing squad isn't really even necessary. Death by shooting can easily be made so that a gun is perfectly aimed at the heart and perhaps a switch is flipped so as to perform the execution.

The question I have to death penalty supporters is pretty simple. Would you be willing to be the executioner, even if it meant an action so simple as to flip a switch or pull a lever? If not, there is certainly some cognitive dissonance in your mind.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The USA and Japan are basically the only two remaining first world countries with the death penalty. Even some countries not especially known for their freedom, such as Russia and Cambodia have banned it.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

The USA and Japan are basically the only two remaining first world countries with the death penalty. Even some countries not especially known for their freedom, such as Russia and Cambodia have banned it.

Japan?  I wouldn't have guessed it.

[Mr. Illini]

Absolutely insane.

[CatoMinor]

But..What would Jesus Do? Right?

I've actually heard people argue that we need capital punishment because without it Jesus would never have died on the cross for our sins.

Please tell me you slapped them hard across the face.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

But..What would Jesus Do? Right?

I've actually heard people argue that we need capital punishment because without it Jesus would never have died on the cross for our sins.

Please tell me you slapped them hard across the face.

But..What would Jesus Do?

Nah, but I presented them with the idea that Jesus means we don't need capital punishment any more, and they seemed to consider it.

[CatoMinor]

But..What would Jesus Do? Right?

I've actually heard people argue that we need capital punishment because without it Jesus would never have died on the cross for our sins.

Please tell me you slapped them hard across the face.

But..What would Jesus Do?

Flipping tables and whipping them is in the realm of possibilities

[Rooney]

This is a shocking development.