Post #1711793

Excuse me while I cannot feign outrage at Trump bringing back the firing squad for state executions. If the State is going to execute people, which it shouldn't, it should absolutely be by firing squad. The other options are far more gruesome and painful. The electric chair is torture and was phased out for lethal injection *which is an awful way to die* Legal injection is for the benefit of the executioner, not the human being executed. Often, the cocktail involves a paralyzing agent so the prisoner is immobile while in excruciating pain. Due to the Hippocratic oath, medical providers will not participate in this brutality, so the doses are not always correct or administered correctly. States that use this method often have to rely on the black market because legitimate pharmacies won't help them. Drugs could be painless (like how veterinarians euthanize animals), where the person goes to sleep and never wakes up, but that goes against the Hippocratic oath. Hanging requires a specialist who can do the proper mathematics to make the drop snap the neck for an instant death. Leaving someone to dangle while the oxygen in their blood depletes is grotesque and cruel torture. Hanging a heavy person can result in unintentional decapitation. State executions are psychologically damaging to the executioners, which is why executions are done with a squad rather than one person with a gun. Not every squad member has a loaded gun when they fire so none of them knows who fired the fatal shot. This reduces the psychological harm. Death by firing squad is usually instant (unless you have piss poor shooters), and therefore less painful. If you must have state executions, firing squads are the most ethical of the available options. That said, no one should give the state power over life and death for any reason.