Reply to: Firing Squad

[billybiro]

We're not executing boyscouts here

From: BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | Is death by lethal injection "cruel"?

Interestingly the man who invented the lethal injection system is a doctor, the former Medical Examiner of Oklahoma, Dr A. J. Chapman, a forensic pathologist.

When electrocution - the execution system the state had previously been using - left some occupants of the electric chair partly grilled and even set aflame, state legislators asked him to find a better, more humane method.

He believes that the anxiety over "cruel and unusual" punishment is overdone.

In our interview I mentioned to him that 929 people had died by his lethal injection system.

"How many people have been murdered? That's an even bigger figure," he replied.

"I've seen what these people do to other people, so I think it's the height of nerve and cheekiness for them to say 'oh, I might feel a little pain,' when the judgement against them has been decided."

Quite.

[Moscow Mule]

No, they're police officers: "...a five-man firing squad of police officer volunteers."

The Salt Lake Tribune interviewed three members of the firing squad from the last time they did this in 1996, for those who are interested.

USA police officers are not exactly marksmen either...

[Doggy Styles]

Electrical discharges, applied at short intervals, cause cardiac arrest and respiratory paralysis: an electrician, by order of the executioner, introduces the current for two minutes and eighteen seconds, changing the voltage from 500 to 2000 volts. If this is done too slowly; they fry. The prisoner sometimes jumps forward held back by straps, he urinates, defecates and vomits blood, internal organs are burnt, there is smell of burnt flesh. Though the sentenced should be unconscious after about five minutes. If it does not work first time the organs keep on working, so that further discharges are needed until no further movement of the prisoner is visible.

Does that mean they too "die instantly"?

Still, it demonstrates to everyone that, whatever baddies do, the state can do it too.

[PRC1964]

Capital punishment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Electric chair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


As of 2008 the only places in the world which still reserve the electric chair as an option for execution are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. (Oklahoma, Arkansas and Illinois laws provide for its use should lethal injection ever be held to be unconstitutional). Inmates in the other states must select either it or lethal injection. In the state of Florida, on July 8, 1999, Allen Lee Davis convicted of murder was executed in the Florida electric chair "Old Sparky". Davis' face was bloodied and photographs taken, which were later posted on the Internet. The 1997 execution of Pedro Medina created controversy when flames burst from the inmate's head.

Electrical discharges, applied at short intervals, cause cardiac arrest and respiratory paralysis: an electrician, by order of the executioner, introduces the current for two minutes and eighteen seconds, changing the voltage from 500 to 2000 volts. If this is done too slowly; they fry. The prisoner sometimes jumps forward held back by straps, he urinates, defecates and vomits blood, internal organs are burnt, there is smell of burnt flesh. Though the sentenced should be unconscious after about five minutes. If it does not work first time the organs keep on working, so that further discharges are needed until no further movement of the prisoner is visible.

It almost makes being hung, drawn and quartered seem humane.

[Paddy]

It's wonderful, knowing how justice is dispensed.

Have you got one of those for ole sparky?

Capital punishment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Electric chair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


As of 2008 the only places in the world which still reserve the electric chair as an option for execution are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. (Oklahoma, Arkansas and Illinois laws provide for its use should lethal injection ever be held to be unconstitutional). Inmates in the other states must select either it or lethal injection. In the state of Florida, on July 8, 1999, Allen Lee Davis convicted of murder was executed in the Florida electric chair "Old Sparky". Davis' face was bloodied and photographs taken, which were later posted on the Internet. The 1997 execution of Pedro Medina created controversy when flames burst from the inmate's head.

Electrical discharges, applied at short intervals, cause cardiac arrest and respiratory paralysis: an electrician, by order of the executioner, introduces the current for two minutes and eighteen seconds, changing the voltage from 500 to 2000 volts. If this is done too slowly; they fry. The prisoner sometimes jumps forward held back by straps, he urinates, defecates and vomits blood, internal organs are burnt, there is smell of burnt flesh. Though the sentenced should be unconscious after about five minutes. If it does not work first time the organs keep on working, so that further discharges are needed until no further movement of the prisoner is visible.

[doodab]

How'd he do that then?

Carefully, I expect.

[NickFitz]

I can't for the life of me understand why in the US a perp gets a say in how they are executed, but then Yankland is like the past - it's another country.

It's a Utah thing, not a US thing, and they abolished the executee's right to choose in 2004. This chap was still given the choice because he was sentenced before the law changed, which suggests they could teach HMRC a thing or two about the injustice of retrospective legislation, à la BN66.

[NickFitz]

They are prison guards - not experienced marksmen shooting 1000s of rounds a week.

No, they're police officers: "...a five-man firing squad of police officer volunteers."

The Salt Lake Tribune interviewed three members of the firing squad from the last time they did this in 1996, for those who are interested.

[OwlHoot]

So whenever you hear "he would have died instantly" it's utter bobbins?

But I think he would lose consciousness pretty much instantly which, in the circs, is much the same.

I can't for the life of me understand why in the US a perp gets a say in how they are executed, but then Yankland is like the past - it's another country.

[Paddy]

So whenever you hear "he would have died instantly" it's utter bobbins?

Yes!

[Moscow Mule]

After being shot in the heart, blood actively will stop. The nerve cells in the cerebral cortex cease funtioning in two to six minutes. The nerve cells in the midbrain that control unconscious activity such as breathing can last up to thirty minutes. The nerve cells in the spinal cord can last an hour without blood flow. The doctor will normally certify death after 30 minutes.

So whenever you hear "he would have died instantly" it's utter bobbins?

[Doggy Styles]

After being shot in the heart, blood actively will stop. The nerve cells in the cerebral cortex cease funtioning in two to six minutes. The nerve cells in the midbrain that control unconscious activity such as breathing can last up to thirty minutes. The nerve cells in the spinal cord can last an hour without blood flow. The doctor will normally certify death after 30 minutes.

It's wonderful, knowing how justice is dispensed.

Have you got one of those for ole sparky?

[Moscow Mule]

How would they have fired blanks in the days of longbows?

One of them would have a willow arrow, the rest birch.

[Paddy]

BBC News - Utah firing squad execution for Ronnie Lee Gardner


Bollocks about the guards not knowing if they fired the blank. Any one who has fired high velocity rifles will know how different it feels.


Although I don't agree with the death penaltywith the 'innocent man argument' this method is surely prefable to that farce that is lethal injection.

After being shot in the heart, blood actively will stop. The nerve cells in the cerebral cortex cease funtioning in two to six minutes. The nerve cells in the midbrain that control unconscious activity such as breathing can last up to thirty minutes. The nerve cells in the spinal cord can last an hour without blood flow. The doctor will normally certify death after 30 minutes.

[Drewster]

How would they have fired blanks in the days of longbows?

Little "suckers" on the end - Shirley