If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Jan 31, 2024, 6:29 AM

Lethal Injection
Hanging-almost instant if rope is correct length, you actually die from broken neck
Firing Squad-almost instant (SC has firing squads as a method of executions)
Electrocution-not so quick
Guillotine-instant
Gas chamber-not so quick

Billy Bailey
Delaware's Billy Bailey was the last criminal to be hanged in the United States, in 1996. Bailey was just the third criminal to be hanged since 1965, the other two being Charles Rodman Campbell in 1994 and Westley Allan Dodd in 1993, both in Washington State.

Ronnie Lee Gardner
WHEN WAS THE LAST EXECUTION BY FIRING SQUAD? Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed at Utah State Prison on June 18, 2010, for killing an attorney during a courthouse escape attempt. Gardner sat in a chair, sandbags around him and a target pinned over his heart.

There is no evidence that any state in America has ever used guillotines for executions. The guillotine was primarily used as a method of execution in France during the French Revolution and continued to be used in France until capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Hamida Djandoubi
After its adoption, the device remained France's standard method of judicial execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981. The last person to be executed by a government via guillotine was Hamida Djandoubi on 10 September 1977 in France.

Lethal Injection
In 1977, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution, though it would be five more years until Charles Brooks would become the first person executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 2, 1982. Today, every state that has the death penalty authorizes execution by lethal injection. When this method is used, the condemned person is usually bound to a gurney and a member of the execution team positions several heart monitors on this skin. Two needles (one is a back-up) are then inserted into usable veins, usually in the prisoner’s arms. Long tubes connect the needle through a hole in a cement block wall to several intravenous drips. The first is a harmless saline solution that is started immediately. Then, at the warden’s signal, a curtain is raised exposing the prisoner to the witnesses in an adjoining room. The process then differs depending upon whether the state uses a single drug or multi-drug protocol.

In the one-drug executions, the prisoner is injected with an overdose of pentobarbital. In the multi-drug executions, states start with a sedative, previously sodium thiopental but more recently drugs such as midazolam, which is supposed to put the prisoner to sleep. Next, a paralytic drug, typically vecuronium bromide or pancuronium bromide, is injected, which paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops the prisoner’s breathing. Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops the heart. Death results from anesthetic overdose and respiratory and cardiac arrest while the condemned person is unconscious. [2][5] Medical ethics preclude doctors from participating in executions. However, a doctor will certify the prisoner is dead. This lack of medical participation can be problematic because often injections are performed by inexperienced technicians or orderlies. If a member of the execution team injects the drugs into a muscle instead of a vein, or if the needle becomes clogged, extreme pain can result. Many prisoners have damaged veins resulting from intravenous drug use and it is sometimes difficult to find a usable vein, resulting in long delays while the prisoner remains strapped to the gurney. [2][5]

Electrocution
Seeking a more humane method of execution than hanging, New York built the first electric chair in 1888 and executed William Kemmler in 1890. Soon, other states adopted this execution method. Today, electrocution is not used as the sole method of execution in any state. Electrocution was the sole method in Nebraska until the State Supreme Court ruled the method unconstitutional in February 2008. For execution by the electric chair, the person is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross his chest, groin, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline. The sponge must not be too wet or the saline short-circuits the electric current, and not too dry, as it would then have a very high resistance. An additional electrode is moistened with conductive jelly (Electro-Creme) and attached to a portion of the prisoner’s leg that has been shaved to reduce resistance to electricity. The prisoner is then blindfolded. [4][5] After the execution team has withdrawn to the observation room, the warden signals the executioner, who pulls a handle to connect the power supply. A jolt of between 500 and 2000 volts, which lasts for about 30 seconds, is given. The current surges and is then turned off, at which time the body is seen to relax. The doctors wait a few seconds for the body to cool down and then check to see if the prisoner’s heart is still beating. If it is, another jolt is applied. This process continues until the prisoner is dead. The prisoner’s hands often grip the chair and there may be violent movement of the limbs which can result in dislocation or fractures. The tissues swell. Defecation occurs. Steam or smoke rises and there is a smell of burning. [4][5] U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once offered the following description of an execution by electric chair:

…the prisoner’s eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner’s flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire….Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber. [2]
At postmortem, the body is hot enough to blister if touched, and the autopsy is delayed while the internal organs cool. There are third degree burns with blackening where the electrodes met the skin of the scalp and legs. According to Robert H. Kirschner, the deputy chief medical examiner of Cook County, “The brain appears cooked in most cases.” [5]

Gas Chamber
In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was introduced as Nevada sought a more humane way of executing its condemned prisoners. Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas. The state tried to pump cyanide gas into Jon’s cell while he slept. This proved impossible because the gas leaked from his cell, so the gas chamber was constructed. [1] Today, five states authorize lethal gas as a method of execution, but all have lethal injection as an alternative method. A federal court in California found this method to be cruel and unusual punishment. For execution by this method, the condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. A long stethoscope is typically affixed to the prisoner so that a doctor outside the chamber can pronounce death. Once everyone has left the chamber, the room is sealed. The warden then gives a signal to the executioner who flicks a lever that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. [5] The prisoner is instructed to breathe deeply to speed up the process. Most prisoners, however, try to hold their breath, and some struggle.

The prisoner does not lose consciousness immediately. According to former San Quenton, California, Penitentiary warden, Clifton Duffy, “At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool.” [5] Caryl Chessman, before he died in California’s gas chamber in 1960 told reporters that he would nod his head if it hurt. Witnesses said he nodded his head for several minutes. [2] According to Dr. Richard Traystman of John Hopkins University School of Medicine, “The person is unquestionably experiencing pain and extreme anxiety…The sensation is similar to the pain felt by a person during a heart attack, where essentially the heart is being deprived of oxygen.” The prisoner dies from hypoxia, the cutting-off of oxygen to the brain. [5] At postmortem, an exhaust fan sucks the poison air out of the chamber, and the corpse is sprayed with ammonia to neutralize any remaining traces of cyanide. About a half an hour later, orderlies enter the chamber, wearing gas masks and rubber gloves. Their training manual advises them to ruffle the victim’s hair to release any trapped cyanide gas before removing the deceased. [5]

As of April 17, 2015, Oklahoma introduced death by nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection if the necessary drugs cannot be found or if that method is found unconstitutional. Nitrogen is a naturally occurring gas in the atmosphere, and death would be caused by forcing the prisoner to breathe only nitrogen, thereby suffocating him or her by oxygen deprivation. Several other states have adopted nitrogen hypoxia as a back-up method of execution, but as of May 2022, no state had issued a nitrogen execution protocol.

Firing Squad
On March 23, 2015, firing squad was reauthorized in Utah as a viable method of execution if, and only if the state was unable to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out a lethal injection execution. Prior to this reauthorization, firing squad was only a method of execution in Utah if chosen by the prisoner before lethal injection became the sole means of execution. Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina subsequently authorized firing squad as an alternative method of execution.

The most recent execution by this method was that of Ronnie Gardner. By his own choosing, Gardner was executed by firing squad in Utah on June 17, 2010. For execution by this method, the prisoner is typically bound to a chair with leather straps across his waist and head, in front of an oval-shaped canvas wall. The chair is surrounded by sandbags to absorb the prisoner’s blood. A black hood is pulled over the prisoner’s head. A doctor locates the prisoner’s heart with a stethoscope and pins a circular white cloth target over it. Standing in an enclosure 20 feet away, five shooters are armed with .30 caliber rifles loaded with single rounds. One of the shooters is given blank rounds. South Carolina’s execution protocol calls for the use of three shooters, each of whom is provided live rounds. Each of the shooters aims his rifle through a slot in the canvas and fires at the prisoner. [5] The prisoner dies as a result of blood loss caused by rupture of the heart or a large blood vessel, or tearing of the lungs. The person shot loses consciousness when shock causes a fall in the supply of blood to the brain. If the shooters miss the heart, by accident or intention, the prisoner bleeds to death slowly. [4][5]

Hanging
Until the 1890s, hanging was the primary method of execution used in the United States. Hanging was still authorized in Delaware and Washington before those states abolished the death penalty in 2016 and 2018, although both had lethal injection as an alternative method of execution.

For execution by hanging, the prisoner may be weighed the day before the execution, and a rehearsal is done using a sandbag of the same weight as the prisoner. This is to determine the length of ‘drop’ necessary to ensure a quick death. If the rope is too long, the prisoner could be decapitated, and if it is too short, the strangulation could take as long as 45 minutes. The rope, which should be 3/4-inch to 1 1/4-inch in diameter, must be boiled and stretched to eliminate spring or coiling. The knot should be lubricated with wax or soap “to ensure a smooth sliding action,” according to the 1969 U.S. Army manual. [3][4]

Immediately before the execution, the prisoner’s hands and legs are secured, he or she is blindfolded, and the noose is placed around the neck, with the knot behind the left ear. The execution takes place when a trap-door is opened and the prisoner falls through. The prisoner’s weight should cause a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck. However, instantaneous death rarely occurs. [5]

If the prisoner has strong neck muscles, is very light, if the ‘drop’ is too short, or the noose has been wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation is not rapid and death results from slow asphyxiation. If this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the eyes pop, the body defecates, and violent movements of the limbs occur.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

In tge same manner as the victim...haven't heard such for a while. I'm not opposed to the sound of it, it's certainly justice, but who do we hire to do the really grizzly stuff? And ultimately do we really want the state to pay and support such? I don't.

There are all kinds of reasons to justify the death penalty and I'm far from being against it, but carrying out in a way designed to cause the most pain seems contrary to the aims of a healthy society.

I do think public executions should be reintroduced. I can't help but believe this would have a deterrent effect on a few. Everything being done in private removes from public perception the reality of a functioning judicial and penal system .

If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

They are using the wrong gas with nitrogen suffocation

Re: They are using the wrong gas with nitrogen suffocation

I hear you might have a job lead for me?

I'm only for the death penalty when there is no doubt at all

Re: They are using the wrong gas with nitrogen suffocation

Lethal injection if they can do it like you do with dogs.

Re: Lethal injection if they can do it like you do with dogs.

I'd request a shot behind the ear. Not like I'm going to care about the mess

smothered

Perhaps breasts as a close second alternative?***

Death by Snu Snu.***

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

the way they pop cows

Of all the times to need the Tommy Lee Jones gif and

Re: Of all the times to need the Tommy Lee Jones gif and

WHo cares about Tommy Lee's Jones

Can you still find the Pam and Tommy tape online? I need to watch that

Not sure. If I close my eyes I can still see it... or if I stare at a white

Re: the way they pop cows

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Only 1 way man

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Monty Python answered this question for me.

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

That's hot.***

Re: If you were on Death Row how would you want to be executed?

Blood Eagle - is that anything like Spread Eagle?***

Re: Blood Eagle - is that anything like Spread Eagle?***

TigerBoard POTD