Could also be that the prison literally cannot buy the drugs they need. A lot of these drugs come from “unknown sources” because medical companies don’t like to sell drugs they know are going to be used for lethal injection.
So, this is going to sound like something an idiot would say, but, I’m honestly curious.
Why don’t they just execute people with a slow overdose of heroin or fentanyl or something? I’ve heard that the actual cocktail isn’t all that comfortable for the victim anyway, so let them drift off to sleep and not wake up. I know there must be a reason, and I’d be really interested to hear it.
Those require a lot more dosage, and don’t kill quickly (which is what you want with an execution). Cops don’t want to give a valid use for these drugs either. Prisons do want to experiment with slowly replacing atmosphere in a sealed chamber with nitrogen, sorta like what they used to do with the gas chamber - but nobody’s tested this as an execution method and no state wants to be the one to fuck it up first.
I don’t even think that’s the ultimate argument. Executions are final. There is nothing you can do when you find out someone wasn’t guilty after all. And that happens way too often.
Don’t forget what I think is the most important reason for elaborate “humane” execution methods. Those ordering or tasked with the executions don’t want to think of themselves as the “bad guys”.
Historically what that means has varied strongly. But in our societies we have very little official appetite for being bad or cruel in a physical manner.
And then it’s a matter of required competency. It seems to require real skill to decapitate a person with a sword cleanly. Hanging cleanly is much less simple than it seems. Killing is fairly simple. Killing in a socially acceptable manner much less so.
(Were this the case in the minds of these law&order judges, all would be struck down by 8th amendment. They are not, so at least one class of informed folk generally disagree.)
the official drugs come from EU pharm companies, and they stopped providing it to the states, because the bad pr associated with executing people. they have since are trying to make thier bootleg execution drugs.
But that something else I don’t understand. Even DIY executions really should, scientifically, be a solved problem. Potassiumiodide as a leathal agent is essentially a stock compound that should easily be sourceable, even be made by oneself. Sure, pharmaceutical grade will be more difficult, but the goal is to kill someone. Afaik it’s quite an unpleasant experience, so for the executioners to feel better it’s proceeded by some sedative and perhaps a muscle relaxant. Both of those should be available as some generic noname drug. And even if not, those have been around for decades and are a solved problem that could be made in-state. If you consider how much money is thrown at the military-industrial complex and even at law enforcement with rubbish like tanks and heavy weapons for “law enforcement” the money for in-state manufacture of the required drugs should be available.
Maybe they can’t find enough chemists/pharmacists without a conscience? But even so I suspect the real reason is simply them wanting to be cheapskates.
And if they want it cheap, they should man up and use one of those in old non-industrial methods. But I guess that makes them too obviously the bad guys.
Tldr: being so incompetent almost has to be a conscious choice.
Could also be that the prison literally cannot buy the drugs they need. A lot of these drugs come from “unknown sources” because medical companies don’t like to sell drugs they know are going to be used for lethal injection.
So, this is going to sound like something an idiot would say, but, I’m honestly curious.
Why don’t they just execute people with a slow overdose of heroin or fentanyl or something? I’ve heard that the actual cocktail isn’t all that comfortable for the victim anyway, so let them drift off to sleep and not wake up. I know there must be a reason, and I’d be really interested to hear it.
Those require a lot more dosage, and don’t kill quickly (which is what you want with an execution). Cops don’t want to give a valid use for these drugs either. Prisons do want to experiment with slowly replacing atmosphere in a sealed chamber with nitrogen, sorta like what they used to do with the gas chamber - but nobody’s tested this as an execution method and no state wants to be the one to fuck it up first.
I mean someone did test it.
That was with Zyklon-B (hydrogen cyanide).
That isn’t a pleasant/humane way to go - people exposed to it suffer greatly before they die.
The execution is supposed to be the ultimate form of punishment, it’s meant to suck.
No. It’s not. The punishment is ending the life. What you are describing is legally cruel and unusual.
Execution is cruel and unusual so checks out.
I don’t even think that’s the ultimate argument. Executions are final. There is nothing you can do when you find out someone wasn’t guilty after all. And that happens way too often.
Don’t forget what I think is the most important reason for elaborate “humane” execution methods. Those ordering or tasked with the executions don’t want to think of themselves as the “bad guys”. Historically what that means has varied strongly. But in our societies we have very little official appetite for being bad or cruel in a physical manner.
And then it’s a matter of required competency. It seems to require real skill to decapitate a person with a sword cleanly. Hanging cleanly is much less simple than it seems. Killing is fairly simple. Killing in a socially acceptable manner much less so.
(Were this the case in the minds of these law&order judges, all would be struck down by 8th amendment. They are not, so at least one class of informed folk generally disagree.)
the official drugs come from EU pharm companies, and they stopped providing it to the states, because the bad pr associated with executing people. they have since are trying to make thier bootleg execution drugs.
But that something else I don’t understand. Even DIY executions really should, scientifically, be a solved problem. Potassiumiodide as a leathal agent is essentially a stock compound that should easily be sourceable, even be made by oneself. Sure, pharmaceutical grade will be more difficult, but the goal is to kill someone. Afaik it’s quite an unpleasant experience, so for the executioners to feel better it’s proceeded by some sedative and perhaps a muscle relaxant. Both of those should be available as some generic noname drug. And even if not, those have been around for decades and are a solved problem that could be made in-state. If you consider how much money is thrown at the military-industrial complex and even at law enforcement with rubbish like tanks and heavy weapons for “law enforcement” the money for in-state manufacture of the required drugs should be available. Maybe they can’t find enough chemists/pharmacists without a conscience? But even so I suspect the real reason is simply them wanting to be cheapskates.
And if they want it cheap, they should man up and use one of those in old non-industrial methods. But I guess that makes them too obviously the bad guys.
Tldr: being so incompetent almost has to be a conscious choice.