Public execution by guillotine

[canetoad]

It's no secret that I oppose capital punishment and live in a country that abolished the practice in the sixties. That some states adhere to the penalty and DU polls have shown roughly half the respondents support capital punishment, it is obvious that the USA still has strong support for the death penalty.

The trouble is, I think you are doing it all wrong. Hideously botched executions resulted in prolonged and agonising deaths in the gas chamber and on the electric chair. Prior to that, hanging was a rather hit or miss method, depending on the proficiency of the executioner and the method of hanging.

To soothe the bruised sensibilities of those who preferred not to read or hear about burning hair, convulsions and worse, a new, warm and fuzzy method was invented. A little needle, just like putting a sick pet 'to sleep'. The trouble with this was the ethics of medical personnel being involved and supply of the drugs, not to mention physical problems of administration and the still-present spectre of a botched job and lingering agony.

I suggest that those who support execution start rallying for a return of the guillotine. There was rarely a bungled guillotining and death was practically instant, notwithstanding the more lurid tales of heads that moved their eyes and sighed.

And for those who cry Deterrent! Would the best deterrent not be a scaffold in a public place, a sombre parade of the condemned in an open truck, photographs and tales to recount to the young?

Anything else is pure hypocrisy.


Edit to repair typo in subject.