
The Electric Chair That Might Soon Be Used in Tennessee - danso
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhisubbaraman/electric-chair-tennessee-edmund-zagorski
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function_seven
All this complication around methods of execution baffles me.

Why don’t we use a massive dose of fentanyl or some other opioid? I’ve got to
be missing something, because that seems like a simple, one-step process that
doesn’t risk the pain of paralytics and potassium chloride.

I think the death penalty is a useless relic, but if we’re going to do it, why
make it so bizarre?

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dannypgh
That would require either the state finding a legal source of fentanyl that is
willing to sell them the drug for that purpose (challenging, given most pharma
companies refuse due to some mix of principles and not wanting their product
to be associated with death) or the state contracting with black market
suppliers.

Given the state imprisons low level illicit drug suppliers, I'm guessing the
hypocrisy of granting legit contracts to illicit drug manufacturers is enough
to make the black market route a non-starter.

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tomatocracy
It's not just principles that causes the issue for pharma companies (although
the principles are, I think, real and truly held by the senior executives of
those companies) - the EU has also banned export of any drugs for use in
executions which makes it legally problematic for them too.

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nabla9
Death penalty is barbaric but these methods are just cruel.

Why not use preferred methods for euthanasia, like exit bag? It's fast,
painless and cheap.

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FooHentai
There's a fantastic documentary called 'How to kill a human being', with
Michael Portillo (former UK politician), made back in 2008.

It covers this quite nicely - Includes an interview with a death penalty
advocate and asks about a 'theoretical painless execution method' and the
advocate agrees that if such thing were available it would be ideal.

Then later, after Portillo has done a bunch of investigation, hypoxia (I
think) is landed on as an ideal solution. It's put to the advocate, who then
squirms and insists that it's not a suitable 'punishment'.

My memory is hazy since I haven't seen it in a decade, but it's a fantastic
doco and probably freely available now.

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copperx
What is a doco?

~~~
FooHentai
Apologies, looks like it's a local saying:
[https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/doco](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/doco)

I'm being an egg
([https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Egg](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Egg)).

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pg_bot
There is a similar case (Bucklew v. Precythe) that will be tried before the
supreme court this year.[0] In that case the plaintiff claims that his eighth
amendment rights would be violated if he were to be lethally injected, as it
may cause him significant pain due to a unique medical condition.

[0]:
[https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-8151](https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-8151)

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Theodores
"practicing engineering without a license." is a new one to me, didn't realise
they had that in the U.S.

In the UK you can call yourself an engineer and nobody is going to charge you
for that. However, if you want to do any serious engineering then you do need
a few letters after your name for some professions. I am glad Isambard Kingdom
Brunel and other 'engineers' were able to work without having to be qualified
in some official way.

I don't see this chair or any of the other U.S. methods as being particularly
humane. There is a lack of instant-ness which then becomes 'cruel and unusual
punishment'. Firing squad places burden on the firing squad, even if results
are instant and therefore not 'cruel and unusual'. How come blunt force trauma
and a 'dead man's switch' hasn't been tried? Evil-wrong-doer is given a switch
that he/she can let go of 'when they are ready', then extremely heavy object
and the magic of gravity could solve the matter of instant resolution.

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Teknoman117
Regardless of one's view on the death penalty, I've always found allowing
people to view an execution to be incredibly disturbing.

~~~
jetti
I feel the same way, but I guess allowing people to view the execution is a
way to show the public that the person is in fact executed and the state
didn't just say that the person was executed.

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nrb
Wouldn't viewing the deceased body have the same effect?

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TylerE
No. A visit to any decent wax museum will show why.

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onetimemanytime
OK, USA has the death penalty. Good or bad that's another story. Meanwhile,
just use a firing squad. Efficient and humane.

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tomatocracy
What's to say a particularly notorious criminal doesn't get the firing squad
aiming a bit too far to the left (victim's right) to miss the heart and
deliberately inflict additional suffering? I know there's more than one of
them but still...

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gpm
I mean... we could use a tank. Take the entire head off...

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TylerE
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun)

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Overtonwindow
With nearly unlimited appeals, I have no problem with the death penalty, but I
do wish that DNA testing was made de facto and free for inmates. That said, I
say bring back the firing squad.

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nasredin
Wow!

Buzz Feed has a poor rep, but the headline is not a hyperbole.

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jacobsheehy
Buzz Feed News has a stellar rep.

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wmeredith
But “Buzz Feed” does indeed have a terrible rep for peddling the most cynical
mindless clickbait type of content the web has to offer, and it is literally
2/3 of the “Buzz Feed News” brand for better or (obviously) worse.

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RickJWagner
Zagorski kills 2 people, then sues the state so they can't use an alternative
and must use the electric chair?

More power to him.

