Can we talk about capital punishment?

[HamburgerBoy]

You are quite wrong.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/13/health/pfizer-death-penalty-drugs/

Pfizer spokesman Dean Mastrojohn said Friday that the company is "enhancing the controls on wholesalers and distributors and establishing a surveillance and monitoring system to assess compliance with our policy."
A statement issued by the company said:
"Pfizer makes its products solely to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve. We strongly object to the use of any of our products in the lethal injection process for capital punishment.

My bad. Regardless, I think it's silly that the government can't find other sources of morphine or other drugs to give to inmates. Pfizer isn't the only company in the world that makes morphine. In theory we should just be able to transfer a small percentage narcotics from the DEA to the authorities for use in execution.

So how do you determine what qualifies as an open and shut case? DNA and evidence handling errors happen all the time. Video identification is often spotty. What if the person was suffering from mental illness? Etc. etc.

These things always sound simple until the real world intervenes.

I'd need an example of "video identification is often spotty". High quality video cameras are more common than ever now. Not to mention GPS/EXIF data found on phones, etc. Dylan Roof is an example of an open and shut case, for example; footage of him at the scene of the crime, long history of a desire to commit such crimes, and he confessed. Give him his trial, then kill him.

The presence of mental illness is even more reason to kill violent criminals imo. A rational murderer can at least by reasoned with.

 

[Ackmed]

all of your arguments are tired and old.

I've answered this question the same way every time it has come up. Sorry you don't agree, but I don't really care.

 

[JSt0rm]

I've answered this question the same way every time it has come up. Sorry you don't agree, but I don't really care.

and in a perfect world it would be the correct way. But we dont live in a perfect world.

 

[Ackmed]

I agree, at least I'm consistent and not flip flopping. It's a very hard topic for sure. I could honestly make a case for it either way. The main deciding factor for me is the huge cost of keeping someone alive with generally good care costing the tax (me) payers huge amounts of money.

 

[K1052]

A capital case is by no means a financial bargain compared to life in prison.

 

[JSt0rm]

I agree, at least I'm consistent and not flip flopping. It's a very hard topic for sure. I could honestly make a case for it either way. The main deciding factor for me is the huge cost of keeping someone alive with generally good care costing the tax (me) payers huge amounts of money.

flip flopping can be sign of intelligence. As for the cost. Yes all these people are a drain on society that doesnt mean you should just kill them though.

 

[Darwin333]

My bad. Regardless, I think it's silly that the government can't find other sources of morphine or other drugs to give to inmates. Pfizer isn't the only company in the world that makes morphine. In theory we should just be able to transfer a small percentage narcotics from the DEA to the authorities for use in execution.

They could just use some of the high-quality heroin that they confiscate. No company to complain or refuse to sell it to them.

 

[Darwin333]

I agree, at least I'm consistent and not flip flopping. It's a very hard topic for sure. I could honestly make a case for it either way. The main deciding factor for me is the huge cost of keeping someone alive with generally good care costing the tax (me) payers huge amounts of money.

It actually costs more to put someone to death... So the tax (you) payers are paying more for capital punishment versus putting them in jail for life.

 

[Jaepheth]

I don't think we should have the death penalty.

But barring that option I think we should do it right if we have to have it, and that's by inert gas asphyxiation. Cheap, humane (or as humane as it gets, at least), and foolproof. The condemned get sleepy and just never wake up.

 

[Sunburn74]

Actually to be honest there are a lot of ways to kill a guy that don't cause pain and require minimal medications. They could do something as simple as sedate the person to a near sleep or at least to where he cannot fight back, place an IV and draw all the blood out of body very slowly (there's only about 5 liters in there) and then when he is clearly dead in minutes, put the blood back or simply throw it away (the guy would look pale as hell though at his funeral).

Anyway, the issue with the death penalty is that its not really fairly and equitably used. Even in open and shut cases, for example a grocery store robbery where someone is killed, its caught on camera, everything is clear as day, there are still issues where a white person may get life and a black person may get death. I never bought the argument about well if you kill someone you can't undo it if you're wrong and so we should get rid of the death penalty. You can't undo a lot of things. We can't undo drone strikes, we can't undo presidential elections, we can't undo wars that have been started, etc. That doesn't negate the need to engage in these practices from time to time. Its more about making sure the engagement of these practices is fair, equitable, and just. Is the death penalty always unjust? No. It is always just? no as well.

 

[Darwin333]

I don't think we should have the death penalty.

But barring that option I think we should do it right if we have to have it, and that's by inert gas asphyxiation. Cheap, humane (or as humane as it gets, at least), and foolproof. The condemned get sleepy and just never wake up.

I've never thought of that before but that is actually a good idea. Almost makes me wonder why we did gas chambers when you could go to a welding supply store and rather cheaply get a tank of argon gas, give them some sort of sedative and slap a mask on them connected to said tank. Any nurse should be able to push the sedative and any idiot can hook up the regulator and mask, virtually impossible to fuck up and completely humane.

Again, I am against the death penalty as it's practiced but if we are going to do it that's a damn good way.

 

[JSt0rm]

I've never thought of that before but that is actually a good idea. Almost makes me wonder why we did gas chambers when you could go to a welding supply store and rather cheaply get a tank of argon gas, give them some sort of sedative and slap a mask on them connected to said tank. Any nurse should be able to push the sedative and any idiot can hook up the regulator and mask, virtually impossible to fuck up and completely humane.

Again, I am against the death penalty as it's practiced but if we are going to do it that's a damn good way.

but does it taint the meat?