One of the 10 Commandments I learned as a child was phrased, “Thou shall not kill”. Most of us understand it to mean that homicide which is not justified by self defense or other mitigating factors is a grave sin, a mortal sin in most religions. Does the government have the moral right to execute people? I have pondered this for many years. While we still have a democracy, maybe we need to question this.
This nation has 51 principal subdivisions (50 states plus the nation’s capitol), along with the federal government. The death penalty is on the books of 27 of these, although only a handful actively use it. How do we kill people? Let me count the ways: hanging, firing squad, electrocution, lethal injection and the “gas chamber”. The goal is to end a miscreant’s life as rapidly, and painlessly, as possible.
Why do we have a death penalty? Well, there’s deterrence. Do you think twice about committing murder in Texas, but do it, say, in Massachusetts without fear since the latter does not have a death penalty? I’m not aware of evidence that there is any correlation. By the way, on average, 22 years elapse from death sentencing to death, itself.
Although nobody, to my knowledge, has ever lived to reveal the degree of pain felt by those executed via the guillotine, the Washington Post recently noted the passing of the French Minister of Justice, who, in the 1980’s, conducted a campaign to eliminate this method in that country. Most of the tinkering of procedures for accomplishment of this grisly task in the U.S. have centered on “humane” procedures such as lethal injection and the gas chamber. It is, perhaps, telling that many substances needed to do the job are not readily available domestically, and importing them is often not possible if the provider is aware of their intended use.
Recently, Alabama has explored the use of nitrogen gas. Nitrogen constitutes close to 80% of earth’s atmosphere. It does not support combustion, or, for that matter, life. Therefore, if one is reduced to breathing nitrogen, death due to suffocation should result in several minutes. Technical term: Nitrogen hypoxia. Simple? Well, maybe not. The inmate took about 22 minutes to die, and appeared to be in extreme distress.
Nitrogen’s principal advantage lies in its ease of acquisition. Many of the components of a lethal injection “cocktail” are hard to get, for the reason cited above. A short list:
Pentobarbital – A hypnotic to relax victim
Midazolam – Part of a family of benzodiazepines (Valium, Librium, Xanax), also used to “relax”
Etomidate – A short acting intravenous agent, if all else fails(?)
Fentanyl – An extremely powerful narcotic which kills a lot of people who abuse drugs. Needs no introduction.
The state-hired ghouls whose function is to end these prisoner’s lives have tried numerous combinations of these substances over time. None of them have proven to be effective in all instances – to end life rapidly and with no prolonged suffering by the inmate. No drama.
In that no demonstrable deterrent effect seems to result from the death penalty, should we be doing this? Arguably, life imprisonment is no day at the beach.
We humans are quite accomplished at taking life that God created. We have learned to create weaponry to kill with impunity. I know, I know we need to defend ourselves. Yes, there are bad people who deliberately, or negligently, starve little kids to death. But there is something chilling, to me, anyway, about state mandated premeditated taking of life. Numerous religious leaders have denounced the practice. Pope Francis issued a renewed call to “all people of good will to mobilize for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world” in September 2022, citing the inequality of legal defense available to poor people as opposed to wealthy perps (see: Donald J. Trump). We really need to reexamine this practice.
Rogernarc 