This ought to curdle your blood

[bobabode]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p...layed/?hpid=z1

Oklahoma's latest execution.

[4-2-7]

I know that's crazy, I was going to post it But!

I don't know why if there going to have the death penalty why they just don't shoot them in the head. This chemical cocktail bull shit just doesn't work.

[finnbow]

The story behind this travesty is much worse. The lawyers for the prisoners had filed suit saying that the cocktail was untested and the state Supreme Court ultimately decided to delay the execution until the cocktail was better tested/understood. The governor insisted that the state Supreme Court didn't have jurisdiction (in favor of the Court of Appeals that had sided with her before the SC overrode that decision). Furthermore, several state legislators threatened to impeach the SC justices who decided against allowing the execution to proceed. Ultimately, the SC backed down and the execution proceeded, with gruesome consequences.

The resulting botched execution represents cruel and unusual punishment (i.e., is unconstitutional) and I believe the Governor and legislators that forced this issue should be impeached, as should those SC justices who ultimately acquiesced to this barbarity.

Of course, bloodthirsty death penalty fans will say that the criminal in question committed a heinous crime and deserved his fate. Yet such death penalty fans (normally conservatives) normally hold themselves up as fans of the constitution. Bloodthirsty, fecking hypocrites.

BTW, I posted this same response in a thread Chris started on this topic.

[Pio1980]

I suppose it could be said that he died in better stead than his victim, I'd give her my sorrow.

[piece-itpete]

I see the Europeans' attempt at limiting the US death penalty is having unintended consequences.

Pio I agree.

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

I suppose it could be said that he died in better stead than his victim, I'd give her my sorrow.

That has nothing to do with the unconstitutionality of the punishment and is a copout, IMHO. The constitution doesn't say that cruel and unusual punishment becomes legal once a threshold of nastiness is met by the crime.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

I see the Europeans' attempt at limiting the US death penalty is having unintended consequences.

Pio I agree.

Pete

Blame the Europeans for our own heinous and barbarous behavior. Brilliant.

[donquixote99]

I'm not going to wail and rend my garments over the sad fate of the executed man. These guys who do the horrible crimes are NOT my primary concern in this whole business. It's how everyone else feels and acts.

Executions, in my view, should not happen. We should not feed the bloodlust of some of our citizens, and we should fear to kill people based on the findings of that blunt and corruptible instrument we call the 'justice system.'

If we are going to execute people, we should again not feed the bloodlust of some our citizens with any whiff of public torture. We punish murders because we affirm the value of life. We best do that by executions that are non-violent, swift, painless, and bloodless.

The thing I really hate about the death penalty is the way it encourages us to wallow in the blood spilled by murderers, and indulge in an orgy of anger, hate, and bloodlust in return. I'll also add that the politicians who exploit these passions make me sick.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

I'm not going to wail and rend my garments over the sad fate of the executed man. These guys who do the horrible crimes are NOT my primary concern in this whole business. It's how everyone else feels and acts.

Executions, in my view, should not happen. We should not feed the bloodlust of some of our citizens, and we should fear to kill people based on the findings of that blunt and corruptible instrument we call the 'justice system.'

If we are going to execute people, we should again not feed the bloodlust of some our citizens with any whiff of public torture. We punish murders because we affirm the value of life. We best do that by executions that are non-violent, swift, painless, and bloodless.

The thing I really hate about the death penalty is the way it encourages us to wallow in the blood spilled by murderers, and indulge in an orgy of anger, hate, and bloodlust in return. I'll also add that the politicians who exploit these passions make me sick.

QFT and the bolded statement is what galls me the most. The OK governor and state legislators should be held to account for their actions in this sordid affair.

[piece-itpete]

State executions are supposed to be without rancor or malice - an expression of what society considers justice (an interesting word in its' own right) though law. The death penalty was considered Constitutional when the Constitution was ratified and poll after poll shows the majority approve - do we need our berobed masters to tell us it isn't? Should we use hanging or perhaps a firing squad?

The Europeans obviously are not to 'blame' for our legal system and I'm sorry that using 'Europeans' is too broad a brush (it is). But unintended consequences just the same.

Pete