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Are We Really So Barbaric?
Yes, I suppose as a society we are. Do we want to see the person we believe hurt us tortured? Absolutely! Modern day executions are a good lesson in our need for vengeance.
For anyone who feels justice is never wrong, well, they are blind because too many people have been proven innocent many years after the execution when the ORIGINAL monster struck again and mocked the world with his cunning. The question I always have is why choose such barbaric methods to kill a man? We live in a world where dying may be easier than living and something as easily gotten as a handful of aspirins can kill you. Why does the justice system still insist on torture to kill? Electric chair, lethal injection and the gas chamber seem to be the ways to kill… all torturous and barbaric. Whats worse is that the countries “humane” ways to die end up completely botched by incompetent executioners and flames, blood, chemicals and flying eyeballs seem to become the norm. WTF? if you wanna kill someone peacefully and humanely there are some great methods. Sleeping pills, aspirin, opiate pain killers like morphine and anesthesia. No need to find stable veins, sponges, electrodes, gas, etc. Animals are put to sleep daily, why can they not make executions the same? It must be that people (witnesses) need to see the suffering, the burning, the gasping, and the torture before death. I feel very sorry for anyone who would ever feel the need to witness justice by watching a torturous execution. Here are some of the botched one from CCADP.org 1. April 22, 1983. Alabama. John Evans. After the first jolt of 2. Sept. 2, 1983. Mississippi. Jimmy Lee Gray. Officials had to clear the room eight minutes after the gas was released when Gray’s desperate gasps for air repulsed witnesses. His attorney, Dennis Balske of Montgomery, Alabama, criticized state officials for clearing the room when the inmate was still alive. Says David Bruck, “Jimmy Lee Gray died banging his head against a steel pole in the gas chamber while reporters counted his moans (eleven, according to the Associated Press)” (Bruck, New Republic, Dec. 12, 1983 at 24-25). 3. December 12, 1984. Georgia. Alpha Otis Stephens. After the first jolt of electricity failed to kill him , Stephens struggled for eight minutes before a second charge finished the job. The first jolt took two minutes, and there was a six minute pause so his body could cool before physicians could examine him (and declare that another jolt was needed.) During that six-minute interval, Stephens took 23 breaths. 4. March 13, 1985. Texas. Stephen Peter Morin. Had to probe both arms and legs with needles for 45 minutes before they found the vein. 5. October 16, 1985. Indiana. William E. Vandiver. He was still breathing after the first administration of 2,300 volts, and the current had to be applied three more times before he died. Vandiver’s attorney, Herbert Shaps, witnessed the killing and said it was outrageous. The Department of Corrections admitted the execution “did not go according to plan.” The physician who pronounced death said, “This is very rare.” 6. August 20, 1986. Texas. Randy Woolls. A drug addict, Woolls had to help the executioner technicians find a good vein for the execution. 7. June 24, 1987. Texas. Elliott Johnson. It took 35 minutes to insert a catheter into his vein. 8. December 13, 1988. Texas. Raymond Landry. Pronounced dead 40 minutes after being strapped to the execution gurney and 24 minutes after the drugs first started flowing into his arms. Two minutes into the killing, the syringe came out of Landry’s vein, spraying the deadly chemicals across the room toward the witnesses. The execution team had to reinsert the catheter into the vein. The curtain was drawn for 14 minutes so witnesses could not see the intermission. 9. May 24, 1989. Texas. Stephen McCoy. Had such a violent physical reaction to the drugs (heaving chest, gasping, choking, etc.) that one of the witnesses (male) fainted, crashing into and knocking over another witness. Houston attorney Karen Zellars, who represented McCoy and witnessed the execution, thought that the fainting would catalyze a chain reaction. The Texas Attorney General admitted the inmate “seemed to have a somewhat stronger reaction,” adding “The drugs might have been administered in a heavier dose or more rapidly.” 10. July 14, 1989. Alabama. Horace F. Dunkins. It took two jolts (nine minutes apart) to kill this mentally retarded inmate. The foul-up was caused by “human error:” faulty cable hookups. As a result, there was not enough current to cause death. His attorney was Steve Ellis of Philadelphia. Death was pronounced 19 minutes after the first jolt. 11. May 4, 1990. Florida. Jesse Joseph Tafero. When the state replaced a “natural” sponge with a synthetic sponge in the headpiece of the execution apparatus, six-inch flames erupted, and three jolts of power were required to stop Tafero’s breathing. Support for the state’s faulty sponge theory was generated by sticking a part of it into a “common household toaster” and noting that it smoldered and caught fire. Extensive investigation by the office of the Capital Collateral Investigator in Tallahassee questioned this theory as other states have used synthetic sponges with no problems. 12. October 17, 1990. Virginia. Wilbert Lee Evens. During the electrocution, blood spewed from the right side of the mask on Evens’ face, drenching Evens’ shirt with blood. Evens’ continued to moan after the first jolt of electricity was applied. The autopsy concluded that the blood resulted from high blood pressure brought on by the electrocution. 13. August 22, 1991. Virginia. Derick Lynn Peterson. After a physician determined that the first cycle of electricity had failed to kill Peterson, a second cycle was required. It was the second time this electrical equipment had been used since Virginia’s electric chair had been moved to Greenville from the state’s old death house in Richmond. In the aftermath of the execution, prison officials announced that in the future they would routinely administer two cycles before checking for a heart beat. 14. January 24, 1992. Arkansas. Rickey Ray Rector. It took medical staff more than 50 minutes to find a suitable vein in Rector’s arm. Witnesses were not permitted to view this scene, but reported hearing Rector’s loud moans throughout the process. During the ordeal, Rector (who suffered serious brain damage from a lobotomy) tried to help the medical personal find a vein. The administrator of the State’s Department of Corrections medical programs said (paraphrased by a newspaper reporter) “the moans did come as a team of two medical people that had grown to five worked on both sides of his body to find a vein.” The administrator said “that may have contributed to his occasional outburst.” 15. March 10, 1992. Oklahoma. Robyn Lee Parks. Parks had a violent reaction to the drugs used in the lethal injection. Two minutes after the drugs were administered, the muscles in his jaw, neck, and abdomen began to react spasmodically for approximately 45 seconds. Parks continued to gasp and violently gag. Death came eleven minutes after the drugs were administered. Said Tulsa World reporter Wayne Greene, “the death looked scary and ugly.” 16. April 23, 1992. Texas. Billy Wayne White. It took 47 minutes for authorities to find a suitable vein, and White eventually had to help them. 17. May 7, 1992. Texas. Justin Lee May. May had an unusually violent reaction to the lethal drugs. According to Robert Wernsman, a reporter for the Item (Huntsville), May “gasped, coughed and reared against his heavy leather restraints, coughing once again before his body froze. . .” Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk wrote, ” He went into coughing spasms, groaned and gasped, lifted his head from the death chamber gurney and would have arched his back if he had not been belted down. After he stopped breathing his eyes and mouth remained open.” 18. May 10, 1994. Illinois. John Wayne Gacy. After the execution began, one of the three lethal drugs clogged the tube leading to Gacy’s arm, and therefore stopped flowing. Blinds, covering the window through which witnesses observe the execution, were then drawn. The clogged tube was replaced with a new one, the blinds were opened, and the execution process resumed. Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the inexperience of the prison officials who were conducting the execution, saying that proper procedures taught in “IV 101″ would have prevented the error. 19. May 3, 1995. Missouri. Emmitt Foster. Foster was not pronounced dead until 30 minutes after the executioners began the flow of the death chemicals into his arms. Seven minutes after the chemicals began to flow, the blinds were closed to prohibit the witnesses from viewing the scene; they were not reopened until three minutes after death was pronounced. According to the coroner, who pronounced death, the problem was caused by the tightness of the leather straps that bound Foster to the gurney; it was so tight that the flow of chemicals into his veins was restricted. It was several minutes after a prison worker finally loosened the strap that death was pronounced. The coroner entered the death chamber twenty minutes after the execution began, noticed the problem, and told the officials to loosen the strap so that the execution could proceed. 20. July 18, 1996. Indiana. Tommie Smith. Smith was not pronounced dead until an hour and 20 minutes after the execution team began to administer the lethal combination of intravenous drugs. Prison officials said the team could not find a vein in Smith’s arm and had to insert an angio-catheter into his heart, a procedure that took 35 minutes. According to authorities, Smith remained conscious during that procedure. 21. March 25, 1997. Florida. Pedro Medina. With the first jolt of electricity, blue and orange flames sparked from the mask covering Medina’s face. Flames up to a foot long shot out from the right side of Medina’s head for 6 - 10 seconds. The execution chamber clouded with smoke, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the witness room. 22. May 8, 1997. Oklahoma. Scott Carpenter. Two minutes after the lethal chemicals began flowing into the body of Scott Carpenter at 12:11 a.m., he began to make noises, his stomach and chest began pulsing, and his jaw clenched. In total, his body mad 18 violent convulsions, followed by 8 milder ones. His face, which first turned a yellowish gray, had turned a deep purple and gray by 12:20 a.m. He was officially pronounced dead at 12:22 a.m. 23. June 13, 1997. South Carolina. Michael Elkins. Elkins’s execution was delayed for 40 minutes while numerous attempts were made to insert the IV needles in a suitable vein for the lethal injection. Because of Elkins’ poor physical condition, the first needle was ultimately inserted in Elkins’s neck (attempts to use his arms, legs, feet were not successful) and the second needle was not used. 24. April 23, 1998. Texas. Joseph Cannon. It took two attempts to complete the execution of Joseph Cannon. The first time, a vein in his arm collapsed and the needle popped out. Cannon had laid back and closed his eyes when he realized what had happened. “It’s come undone” he told witnesses. Officials pulled a curtain to block witnesses from seeing what was happening and fifteen minutes later the second attempt began.
Comments Posted:
9 Comments posted on "Are We Really So Barbaric?"
Ryan on December 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm #
What is so inhumane about those three executions you described? Are you kidding me? And you obviously dont know what lethal injection is, because the execution method you described (putting animals to sleep) is the SAME FUCKING THING as lethal injection. Are you stupid or did you mess up when writing this article? In lethal injection, the convict is given an anesthetic to be put to sleep, similar to one given prior to surgery, then is given chemicals to stop the heart. He is asleep the entire process. For the electric chair, the convict is given an initial jolt of approx. 2000 volts, probably more, designed to render him/her unconscious. The convict is conscious for the first 8 seconds at the most. Gas chambers are banned in most places now, so it’s not even an issue. So honestly, what type of death would you describe as humane. Because these executions are more humane most deaths experiences by anybody. I would rather go through these executions than have to go through the horrible pain that these people’s victims have been through. I read your little examples of how these execution styles are “inhumane”, but all they show are how they have gone wrong. Even your little suggestions of good execution methods have more things that could go wrong than these. Do you honestly think that doping someone up on sleeping pills or morphine is 100 percent effective? More shit would go wrong with these than with our current execution methods. This is the most poorly written article I’ve read that is against the death penalty. Do some more research.
Death is coming on January 3rd, 2009 at 2:22 am #
fuck ‘em all….stop pretending to feel sorry for people you don’t even know.
johnnywad on January 27th, 2009 at 3:48 am #
This is to the “A” hole(s) who write this crap AND to those who are in agreement.GOFKYRSLVS.Will you be standing witness to the guy that rapes,murders,and dismembers the body of your 11 yr old little girl?Will you give them instructions to cease and desist if it’s too brutal in your eyes?Be careful with your answer,you may even look like a bigger idiot than you have made of yourself already.The “boys” on death row,can thank their lucky stars they don’t have me to do the job.YOU’D HAVE SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT THEN YOU FKNG JERK
Jessikah on March 30th, 2009 at 11:39 pm #
America is just dumb for making a penalty, death in the first place. The people who sit and rot in jail are the ones who actually pay for the crimes they commit. They get to sit there and deal with what they have done everyday for the rest of their lives and be reminded of it everyday, then the ones who get killed are just dead, and thats that. I’m glad that here in Canada we have thought about that just a little bit more then the US. tsk tsk
xed on April 9th, 2009 at 8:26 am #
I say firing squad. But whats funny to me is that people care so much about this issue, why does it need to be humane? Was it humane for the victims? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. For me?
BrandyRose on April 18th, 2009 at 3:44 am #
Damn right. Have you even done any reserch as to why these fuckers were sentenced to death in the first place. You should probably do your homework Jr. before you go ranting and raving about humane and inhumane. Give me just a couple of hours alone with the fucking pricks who supposedly deserve “humane” executions. I peel their fucking skin back from their bones, starting with the lips. The last thing he would see in this life would be my big shit-eating grin.
Saqib Ali on April 19th, 2009 at 6:58 am #
In case you forgot, Jimmy Lee Gray was convicted for the murder of three-year-old Deressa Jean Seales in 1976, after kidnapping and sodomizing her. At the time of this murder, he was free on parole following a conviction in Arizona for the murder of a 16-year-old girl. So I think he got of easy.
nosferotica on May 31st, 2009 at 12:59 am #
Why don’t we just shoot them in the head? Cheap, easy… Or through the heart. Cheap, easy… I think we are trying too hard. Give them a strong dose of heroin. Something… Why are we going through all this trouble when it can honestly be so simple?
Ken on November 7th, 2009 at 12:47 am #
I’ve given up on making moral arguments against capital punishment; you just can’t win with people that pick-and-choose their morals. Perhaps we would all do better to see if putting the convicted to death is more cost effective than locking them up and throwing away the key. To that end, I offer this scholarly study of that topic http://bit.ly/uiSDO Post a comment
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