Not having the death penalty would definitely be infinitely better. But given the different ways of humane execution, this is actually an improvement over lethal injections. Unlike injected chemicals, it’s way harder to fumble and accidentally cause extra unnecessary suffering.
I fully agree with everything you said but I’m going to use your comment as a jumping off point anyway: I have to wonder, would the condemned feel like they’re suffocating as it’s happening due to lack of oxygen? Or would they simply not notice and just kinda fade out of consciousness?
When you’re suffocating, you don’t really notice that you don’t have enough oxygen. You just feel that you have too much CO2. So if you’re in a nitrogen chamber or in low enough pressure air, you don’t notice you’re suffocating. You just fall asleep.
At what point do we admit that it’s more humane to just shoot someone in the brain? If you’re gonna have a death penalty, it should be dirty and fucked up. Making death penalty too neat and clean, just encourages the states to keep it around. Make the state feel that decision…
People used to botch that one all the time. Not everyone shot in the head dies. And now you have a gory mess that’s gurgling and trying to scream but keeps breathing and moving for several days. So humane.
And that’s not even considering the ethical issues of who pulls the trigger.
