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SEKA's avatar

Which would you choose (details inside)?

Asked by SEKA (7109points) April 17th, 2022
24 responses
“Great Question” (5points)

Richard Moore was found guilty of murder in SC back in 1999. There are lingering questions whether his crime was premeditated or not. During the last 23 years, SC has used lethal injections as their method of execution. Suddenly they determined that they couldn’t get the appropriate drugs to continue with the LI so they suspended all executions. Then they announced that they would be bringing back the electric chair for their executions. The courts ruled that they needed a backup plan and they still claimed that they couldn’t obtain the proper drug for the lethal injection and they were going to give the death row inmate the choice of a Firing Squad. So, the next 4 men who were scheduled to die by lethal injection now only have the choice to be electrocuted or shot. Mr Moore has chosen to go in front of a firing squad. This has had me thinking a lot about the 2 methods. I accidentally touched a bare wire once & it hurt like hell. I’ve never been shot, but it looks like a slow and painful way to die. I’m wonder what will happen when someone doesn’t die from their chosen method. Do they suffer until they can be shot or electrocuted once again or do they get to go free because they have been executed and the double jeopardy rule applies?

SC has also been known for their use of executions mainly on the black race. It’s rare that a white person in SC receives a death penalty unless their crime was heinous.

Sorry if I got side-tracked. Assuming that you were put in a position of being executed, would you choose the electric chair or firing squad? “I won’t ever be in that position” is not a valid response. In my mind, 3 shots to the heart by humans leaves too much room for a margin of error. And electrocution sounds unbearable to me. So, I’m asking you, which method would you choose when there is no other alternative?

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Answers

chyna's avatar

I think for me the only way to go would be firing squad. I think since watching the movie The Green Mile, too much could go wrong accidentally or on purpose with electrocution.
I really don’t understand why they can’t get the injections right. They have used injections on animals for many, many years and I don’t think there were many, if any issues.

janbb's avatar

@chyna From what I read a while ago, some the chemical ingredients for the lethal injections are now in scarce supply.

It’s a Hobson’s Choice for me. I don’t like either option but I think whichever I would choose, I would hope to be zonked out on drugs before the execution.

rebbel's avatar

Yeah, it’s a supply issue (for a couple of years already; if I am correct it has something to do with substances that the USA has to buy from European manufacturers, but they no longer want to sell (because of the intented use)).

In the case of this question: I think I would opt for a combination.
Set in the chair, electrocuted and shot in the same time (headshot please, if possible).
This convict is not free to choose, by the way.
He has to.

Zaku's avatar

Maybe electrocution? I was electrocuted by a wall socket when I was a kid, and my experience was just that suddenly I was lying against the opposite wall, with no memory of what had happened, so I would tend to hope that there wouldn’t be much experience of a lethal dose of electricity. But I might want to do more research.

(Can’t they just give someone full anesthesia and then something very fatal? Isn’t that how lethal injection’s supposed to work, anyway?)

LadyMarissa's avatar

I agree with @chyna. I just don’t understand the problem getting the drugs. I recently had to have my dog put down & the vet had NO problem getting the drug for her & ALL he does is going to homes to put people’s animals down in a peaceful setting. He was so booked that I had to wait 3 days for him to get to her. The governor of SC is an ass & I think he is doing this on purpose. Other states that used the chair for executions dismantled them years ago, but NOT SC. So he says, you don’t like the drugs I use, I’ll show you what pain really is!!! I don’t know from where SC was purchasing their drugs, but there was evidence that the first drug was very painful going in & didn’t work as it was supposed to. Much like with our animals, the first drug was supposed to make them drowsy or put them into a sleep stage with the 2nd stopping their heart. Well, the first one burned their veins so they were tortured until the 2nd was administered. The Green Mile also scarred me for life & depending on 3 people to shoot me in the heart doesn’t sound appealing either. WHAT IF…2 miss their mark & the 3rd was a fraction of an inch off & I don’t die???

SnipSnip's avatar

I have long held the belief that, since for reasons I cannot fathom we refuse to simply cause lethal overdose of sedative/opiode to execute, firing squad is the best option. It is immediate and no one knows if they were the one that shot the lethal blow. It is probably the cheapest method too.

smudges's avatar

I would choose the firing squad.

The traditional number of shooters in a firing squad is 6, with one (unknown) person being given a blank. A firing squad was last used in the US in the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, who said he chose that method because there was no chance of a mistake being made.

filmfann's avatar

Guillotine.

raum's avatar

Can they just stick me in the garage with the car running?

chyna's avatar

^Not an option.

seawulf575's avatar

Huh. I’m pretty fatalistic. If I’m going to die for my crimes, it really doesn’t matter much to me how I go. I might decide on the firing squad as that is somewhat unique.

raum's avatar

@chyna But so much more cost-effective!

ragingloli's avatar

I would choose autoerotic asphyxia.
But if forced to choose between being shot and being fried, I would choose the bullet.

SEKA's avatar

I didn’t go back to reread the links I provided; however, I do remember that there are 3 officers firing the shots and all 3 will have live ammo. So, everybody is going into this knowing that they are also a murderer. Going back to The Green Mile, they will have an opportunity to knowingly miss close enough to say “oops” to the press and still torture their victim

LuckyGuy's avatar

Tough choice. I’d go with electrocution. I trust the electronics and conductors have been optimized for the job, and it’s less messy.

zenvelo's avatar

I think I would go with @filmfann. Guillotine is quick and deterministic. It may be a bit bloody, but society needs to know its thirst for revenge is messy.

RocketGuy's avatar

How about a nitrogen chamber? Painless and easy.

ragingloli's avatar

Or the stuff they use to put animals to “sleep”.
But noooo, it has to be a chemical cocktail that has a non-trivial chance (intentionally, no doubt), to cause a horrendously painful and slow death.
The cruelty is the point.

rebbel's avatar

Or the stuff they use to put humans to “sleep” (aka euthanasia).

LadyMarissa's avatar

The governor claims that he can’t find anywhere to purchase the stuff to put them to sleep. I believe it’s his way of torturing them on their way out!!!

RocketGuy's avatar

No, the drug manufacturers don’t want their products to be known to be used for killing people.

LadyMarissa's avatar

Drug manufacturers have NO shame as long as they make their PROFIT!!!

LadyMarissa's avatar

They just don’t want their name associated with the drug being used

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