(I know this is flamebait but) death penalty supporters -- could you throw

[MnFats]

the switch?
Could you push the button that drops the cyanide tablets into the container of acid under the chair where the condemned is strapped? Have you read accounts of what death is like via electric chair or gas chamber?

(OK, it may be a loaded question but...just gimme a quick straight answer.)

[napi21]

1. If I took the job, yes, I could push the button.

What you also need to realize is that there are several buttons so nobody ever knows who really did the fatal one. Similar to the executions before a firing squad where there were wo many shooters, nobody ever knew then either.

[MnFats]

2. I believe only one shooter was given a blank, traditionally...

...the rest had live rounds.
...there were probably exceptions at times, but I think that's how it was typically done..

[hickman1937]

15. Well than this is crap.

If someone believes in the death penalty then they should be willing to enforce the death penalty as a volunteer, and the first and only needle should be the kill drug. If you believe than you push. Anything else is cowardice.

[Spinzonner]

3. Oh for the good olde days

when they humanely chopped off peoples heads.

Those French really knew how to do an execution.

The British had the idea but those axes and axeman were notoriously unreliable sometimes.

The Iraqies are just mean and uncivilzed about it. No sense of humanity or style at all.




:sarcasm:

[liberaltrucker]

4. Tookie will die from lethal injection

First the sedative to knock him out, then the potassium OD to stop the heart. Sounds pretty humane to me. And, yes, I'd have no problem pushing the syringe.

[MnFats]

5. how do you know? if the first drug has paralyzed him, how...

...do we know that those that follow do not cause excrutiating pain? It's not like he's going to cry out or writh around -- he's been paralyzed.

[liberaltrucker]

8. The first drug, from what I've read

Is Sodium Pentathol-a very potent sedative. No paralysis-just sleep. The potassium OD, even if given wide-awake would be relatively painless. I'm not a doc, just married to a nurse.

[sandnsea]

14. Botched lethal injection

http://ccadp.org/benniedemps.htm

Misses the point though, because people who support this generally supported the electric chair and gas chamber anyway. Nothing too morbid or gruesome when it comes to American style justice.

[hopeisaplace]

6. or this scenario

..your son or daughter is in the wrong place at the wrong time and through lack of money and thus lack of proper legal representation, and perhaps for a number of other reasons, is convicted of murder. Your child is sentenced to die. You know, s/he knows, God or the Universe knows s/he didn't do it...Society is screaming "KILL your child...Your child MUST DIE...cause they KNOW for sure they know". Now what is your position. Make this argument personal, then comment about how you feel. If you don't have kids, replace it with someone you love so much it hurts.

edit: spelling

[MrSlayer]

7. Yes.

Have hood will travel.

[foreigncorrespondent]

20. Ahhhh!

But you have to hide behind a hood to do it? Why is that? Do you need some sort of security blanket?

[MrSlayer]

23. No, it's sort of a joke.

You know, the old executioner bit. These days you are hidden behind a wall, no one ever sees you anyway. It's not quite the same as it used to be.

[alittlelark]

9. Anti-DP here........ those that support it ARE throwing the switch

Enjoy you rmoment of power.... Do you feel BIG? Enjoy the lie for the seconds you experience it.


You are either a black and white thinker or a racist.


Pick your poison,


Please don't make me:puke: :puke:

[liberaltrucker]

12. No moment of power, my friend

I find no pleasure in this. A human being is about to die for his heinous crime. I don't care what his race is. He killed 4 innocent people in cold blood. Even the 9th Circuit-by far the most liberal-denied his appeals. No pleasuse, no gloating, but finally justice.

[lady raven]

13. They denied the appeal, but...

Didn't they, at the same time, recommend that he be granted clemency by the executive branch?

I might not be remembering this correctly, though.

[AgadorSparticus]

10. I doubt many that scream for "justice" and more blood have actually

taken a life themselves. If they HAD, I'm willing to bet they wouldn't be so nonchalant about the killing of a man. If they had to be there to see the blood or have to hold a human being as the life force leaves the body, they would have a different perspective.

I'm not saying the guy is innocent or guilty. I have no idea. But I'm not going to dehumanize him and stoop down to his level to prove some ironic point about right and wrong.

[PaganPreacher]

16. I can't speak for anyone else...

but I have taken human life, at intimate distance. I have looked into angry eyes as they grow dark, and felt that last breath of life.

I have also saved lives, including saving innocent life by using deadly force.

I am not nonchalant about it. I bear the responsibility for my actions, just as Stanley Williams must bear responsibility for his actions.

And I could execute Stanley Williams. I won't say it is "right" or "wrong" (that decision is above my paygrade). But, his death is just, and is partial payment for the lives he took (directly or indirectly).


The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

[AgadorSparticus]

17. I'm sorry you've been in a situation where you took another life,

No person should have to go through that. I guess you can get desensitized to anything.

I know about this. In my past jobs, I dealt with much trauma and got desensitized to tragedy and death. It was a coping mechanism that allowed me to do my job. But it doesn't make it right or healthy.

It was a red flag to me that I am doing something wrong. I didn't want to live my life knowing that I could witness death and be completely insensitive to it. I took a hiatus and it made all the difference in the world. I still experienced death upfront and personal. But it was in a healthy manner. I stayed human and still did my job. And i did a better job.

I respect your right to your belief. Everyone is different. But I think it is sad that you can write about taking a life up close and intimately yet express no remorse, no emotion whatsoever.

Bearing responsibility? what does that mean? It's ok because no one else got hurt? Or no collateral damage? Or does it mean you experience occasional PTSD because of it?

No job should strip a person completely of their humanity.

[The Traveler]

11. Sure, but there are several provisions attached

that qualify that answer.

The evidence must be extraordinarily condemning. The process by which it was collected and processed must be impeccably performed. There must be no possibility of doubt.

The crime must be heinous. Extremely.

The condemned must be demonstrated to be a probable danger to the lives of other prisoners, were the prisoner to remain incarcerated.

As things stand now, I am opposed to the death penalty on the grounds that the criminal justice system as it exists today cannot satisfy my first set of conditions. Justice is not found anymore ... it is purchased, and that means there is no justice at all. There have been too many mistakes, honest or otherwise, and for whatever reason the system cannot be trusted to make an irrevocable decision. I argue not from concern for the guilty prisoner, but from concern for the falsely accused, and for our society.

Other than these cavils, I have no conceptual problem with the death penalty.

[...of J.Temperance]

18. Yes I could

Be it: Hanging, lethal injection, the electric chair or the gas chamber...I could and would be able to carry out the deed with all four methods.

I read a story where the person who threw the switch on Ted Bundy was a woman guard. I could and would have thrown that switch.

[foreigncorrespondent]

19. Speaking of executioners...

...and we were. LOL I watched this documentary on British executioners through out the years a short while ago. The one thing that stood out to me about these men that chose a life of killing others for money from the government was that they were all really depressed, sad, lonely, alcoholic abusers. Most of them died very young or committed suicide because they couldn't live with the ghosts of their immoral work. So perhaps those pro DPers who have answered yes should also take into consideration the effect of taking another human would have on their psyche. Do they think they are strong enough to actually handle it? I really beg to differ.

[Jed Dilligan]

21. Yes, for the executions I approve of.

Corporate thieves, the military brass in charge of torture camps, and corrupt congressmen--I would gladly do them in by poison, gas, decapitation, rope, slow bleeding, evisceration, blunt force, the old Chinese method of cutting someone into 10,000 pieces, etc.

But killers, rapists, etc.--I don't approve of executing them and probably wouldn't be able to do it.

[Hyernel]

22. Yes, I could.

But I'm an elitist, who thinks I'm so damn superior.