Death penalty

Goggle+ post: Death penalty in the USA

Nicodin Bogdan: Methods of Capital Punishment in the United States since 1887 . Such a shame you can’t choose firing squad anymore. And really, all of these execution methods are for peasants, I want to be publicly beheaded as befitting my station.

 

Lethal injection, unlike shooting or beheading, is seen as “clean”, without blood (perhaps just a drop) being spilled, viscera and bits all over the place, which people find unseemly. So it’s about preserving the sensitivity of witnesses and prison staff, rather than the well-being of the condemned.
I agree that the death penalty is barbaric and it’s a good thing that we don’t have it in Europe – good riddance. Only one thing gives me pause: when the death penalty was gradually abolished in each European country, the maximum penalty was life imprisonment – that was supposed to keep society safe, whatever the crime committed. Then life imprisonment was considered too long and inhuman and it became something more like 15-20 years at most. Which means that young, healthy monsters like Breivik will be walking our streets and, perhaps, sit in the Norwegian parliament before too long. His political brethren already have seats in parliament. Perhaps sometimes, when there is absolutely no doubt about the crime and however unpleasant it may be, some individuals who have shown no regret and who are ready to restart given half an opportunity, have to be simply removed from society, for good. Or they will come back to haunt us, over and over again, until, at last, they manage to kill themselves by mistake, after having taken countless lives and ruined many more.

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