Heather Heather’s Comments (group member since Apr 14, 2009)



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Apr 14, 2009 08:55PM

16135 That's interesting. I imagined that the blade would kill the person immediately.
Apr 14, 2009 04:30PM

16135 Agreed, death row inmates should maintain the right to choose the method practiced on them regarding their own death. However, there is really no "humane" or "just" way to kill someone. In my eyes, murder is still murder. As Prejean has mentioned numerous times, why should the government reserve the right too choose who lives an who dies? Furthermore, with the electric chair, there is no guarantee that the first jolt will be the one that kills the prisoner. As Prejean stated in the beginning of the book, 17 year old Willie Francis walked away from the electric chair after his attempted execution.
Also, there’s not much to say about being able to choose your poison. What’s the difference between hanging and electrocution? Both do not ensure a quick and painless death. The definition of hanging is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck."(Wikipedia). However, if ones neck does not snap on impact from hanging, they end up suffocating. Lethal injection is a series of three injections the first an anesthetic, then a saline flush to ensure the drug is introduced into the blood at a faster rate; and finally an injection of potassium chloride, stopping ones heart. The average time for lethal injection is 8.4 minutes. (scienceline). All methods of capital punishment are cruel and unusual punishment, especially since they are long, drawn out, painful process. I maintain that there is no such thing as a humane way of killing someone. Regardless of their past, they are still and always will be a living, breathing human-being.