Sunday, May 18, 2014

Executions

With the problematic execution in Oklahoma recently, (I refuse to say botched, because they intended to kill him and they did, in fact, kill him), some pundits are searching about for other methods to humanely kill someone who has been properly tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

Some argue for the firing squad, and some argue for hanging, both time-tested remedies to the problem, and in either case, it's hard for me to understand how either method might be called "cruel or unusual" in that they're both proven methods of killing someone   I doubt that anyone properly hanged or shot by firing squad will suffer much, if at all.  One wag even argued for the guillotine, but I think that our courts might consider that unusual, because it hasn't been used much (if any) in the United States.

However, if any should want more information on how to properly conduct an execution by either hanging or firing squad, the US Army thoughtfully provides a pamphlet that lays out all the necessary details in how to shoot or hang a person who deserves it.  DA Pamphlet 27-4 lays out the requisite details in how to prepare for and conduct a proper execution, to include engineer drawings in how to construct a suitable gallows, either permanent, semi-permanent, or field expedient.  .  Interestingly, the pamphlet is dated in 1947 and gives a good overview of the manner of execution, to include how to pay the executioner.

Just so you know.

3 comments:

Melissa said...

How about if you murder someone you have to die in the same fashion if the court finds you guilty?

David aka True Blue Sam said...

A county we lived in several years back held a public hanging in the early Twentieth Century. The rope was tied off too long, and the condemned man's feet hit the ground. He was staying alive by standing on his tiptoes. A deputy brought a shovel and dug a hole under him. Within a year, the deputy, the county sheriff, the judge, and all the jurors were dead. The sheriff was shot off his horse while fording a creek. It's still difficult to get a murder conviction from a jury in that county.

jon spencer said...

I never figured out why the gas chamber(s) never used nitrogen. It displaces oxygen, inexpensive and to dispose of the nitrogen gas all you have to do is open a window.
If gradually introduced into a chamber the condemned will go to sleep and then expire.