
US Federal government to resume capital punishment after nearly 20 year hiatus - anigbrowl
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/25/745223284/federal-government-to-resume-capital-punishment-after-nearly-20-year-hiatus
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jackschultz
Woah. It's hard to talk politics here but this is hard to read. Unsure if this
is allowed, but tough to read how apparently it's a single person, William
Barr, who's asking for people to be killed. Secondly, the people they choose
to kill first "is a member of a white supremacist group", with the straight up
goal of not allowing people to play the race card in debating this. Oof.

Typing that up it really makes me feel like this link shouldn't be posted here
on HN. Even though the people leaving comments are are much more relatable and
better than other online boards, it seems more fitting to be talked about in
another place.

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SolaceQuantum
It's been a while since I attempted to seek evidence on this, but:

1\. Does anyone know if there are statistics on how executions help victims'
families/friends? eg. Does it result in lower depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc.
rates?

2\. Does anyone know if there are statistics on how executions help crime
rates?

Or alternatively:

3\. Do we have statistics that highlight any proven benefit to executions as
punishment?

~~~
abrichr
A Google Scholar search turned this up:

[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/421571](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/421571)

> _Results from least squares and negative binomial estimations indicate that
> capital punishment does deter: each execution results in, on average, three
> fewer murders. In addition, capital punishment deters murders previously
> believed to be undeterrable: crimes of passion and murders by intimates.
> Moreover, murders of both African‐American and white victims decrease after
> executions, which suggests that capital punishment benefits people of all
> races. However, longer waits on death row before execution lessen the
> deterrence. Specifically, one less murder is committed for every 2.75‐year
> reduction in death row waits. Thus, recent legislation to shorten the wait
> should strengthen capital punishment 's deterrent effect._

~~~
SolaceQuantum
Thank you!

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ThrustVectoring
Inert gas asphyxiation seems, to me, like the ideal option for capital
punishment. Probably nitrogen gas. It requires no medical training to
administer, is commonly available, causes loss of consciousness and death
quickly, and does not cause unduly distressing physiological symptoms.

~~~
happytoexplain
I often wonder what is causing us to have such a hard time killing people
without pain or distress or the perception of cruelty (as much as that's
possible when killing a person). Why aren't prisoners put to sleep with gas
and then killed as cheaply (and non-gruesomely) as possible thereafter?

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40acres
I'm opposed to the death penalty for a number of reasons, one is as stated in
the article: the discrepancies in our criminal justice system make it so that
black folks are disproportionately executed.

Secondly, this subtlety shows how much power prosecutors have in our criminal
justice system. In the past few years many prosecutors have sought out the
death penalty knowing full well that the DOJ put a moratorium on executions --
one has to wonder how many prosecutors would continue forward if an execution
was guaranteed to occur.

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remicmacs
From my european perspective, capital punishment is such a weird idea. Never I
have came across strong evidence for a deterrent effect. And if you just
quickly look at the Wikipedia article [1], it looks like it's really difficult
to say whether it actually results in a more peaceful society or not (I mean
Japan uses it extensively).

To me, it looks like something that has more to do with a country's culture
than with actual scientific studies arguing for or against.

Full disclosure : I think we're better without capital punishment where I
live. If only because it's easier to "fix" a mistrial when the convict is not
dead meat.

But also because I think it's to powerful a tool for an autoritarian leader
that would get elected and could use it right away. That does not mean that
such a leader could not reinstate it in a country that does not have capital
punishment anymore, but that would take more time and maybe some people could
use this time to realize what kind of leader this person is.

Well that's my two cents. It is only my opinion, I'm not trying to offend or
convince anyone else. And I don't presume any moral high ground for my point
of view or anything. Just saying how I see this subject having been raised in
a country that dropped death penalty since before I was born, is all.

(Trying to be extra careful here since it's a sensitive subject and the USA is
not my country and English is not my mother tongue. Sorry if I offended
someone).

[1]Capital punishment by country :
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_country)

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tempodox
I‘m not sure such a controversial topic should be on here.

Given that people are being killed for a broken tail light or because they
encountered the wrong cop at the wrong time, the death penalty is just the
logical conclusion in a culture that values the right to kill more than the
right to live.

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elektor
[https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/25/federal-death-
penalt...](https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/25/federal-death-penalty-
texas-method/)

The new protocol replaces the controversial three-drug lethal injection
combination with the method that Texas has had since 2012 — using only
pentobarbital, a sedative. Texas purchases the drug from compounding
pharmacies kept secret from the public, where drugs are mixed without federal
regulation. The state has used pentobarbital in 79 executions.

It's difficult to get a hold of pentobarbital, which makes me think these
federal executions are going to be delayed.

