Judge Says Guillotine 'Probably Best' for Executions

[Hitman]

Hell yeah! Bout time someone grabbed their balls
and said something about this ridiculous attempt
to send off Death Row Inmates nicely and with care.

A federal appeals judge issued a blistering dissent
in a death-row case on Monday, declaring that an execution system
that relies on drugs is doomed and the guillotine would be better.

"Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions
is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and peaceful —
like something any one of us might experience in our final moments,"
Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote.

"The firing squad strikes me as the most promising.
Eight or ten large-caliber rifle bullets fired at close range can inflict massive damage,
causing instant death every time."

source

He may not realize that two states are still using the Firing Squad.
Just 4 summers ago Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by Firing Squad in Utah.
Oklahoma is the only other State that still has the option on the table.

But the Guillotine?

What's the fail rate on one of those?
Never seen or heard or read of a botched Guillotine Execution.

Only botched be-headings.



/

 

[madwabbit]

lol the guillotine has a thorough history of botched beheadings, but of course technology in its hay day wasn't what it is today. blunt blades would only break the neck or go partially through the spine. Occasionally it'd hit in different places, requiring multiple "attempts" -all while the condemned was screaming in agony at a public execution.

it uh, didn't take long for them to say "we need a better way"


but I agree. even a firing squad is a pleasant option compared to how these pos's killed their victims, so lets bring ol choppy back. I like it.

 

[Hermit]

Somebody's gotta clean up the mess.
I said it before: Carbon Monoxide.

 

[Sniper56]

I agree with the Judge. High caliiber or removing the head rapidly works for all concerned :-)

 

[Hitman]

I said it before: Carbon Monoxide.

Too Humane.

While the purpose of execution is to end the life of the inmate.

IMO, there should be some form of discomfort pre-death.
I'm not talking about during the execution like burned to death
but before hand.

If you know you'll be hanged, shot to death or have your head cut off
there is a bit of psychological drama that you suffer BEFORE execution.

What's the fear in laying on bed and falling to sleep from CO

 

[olivs260]

Too Humane.

While the purpose of execution is to end the life of the inmate.

IMO, there should be some form of discomfort pre-death.
I'm not talking about during the execution like burned to death
but before hand.

If you know you'll be hanged, shot to death or have your head cut off
there is a bit of psychological drama that you suffer BEFORE execution.

What's the fear in laying on bed and falling to sleep from CO

I'd think just the anticipation of knowing I'm about to die would be plenty suffering.

If I had to choose a method of execution for myself, I'd want to be anesthetized and then dispatched via captive bolt pistol. Or just smothered with a pillow or something. I don't care, as long as they put me under first.

 

[Gator 45/70]

You guys are brutes !!!

We should give the condemned a choice,

Hanging
Firing squad
Guillotine
Gas
Old Sparky

Feel free to add to the list.


lol...

 

[tim9lives]

It would have to be a hell of a dull blade to fail IMO.

Then again...considering that the French were doing thousands of executions a year...and they even had portable guillotines travelling town to town...I can see how the maintenance may get postponed and occasionally there would be a blotched job.

I'm sure a well maintained guillotine would be highly effective and not the cause of a blotched job.

 

[dougstump]

I prefer burning at the stake. A hot steak is better than a cold chop! (Curly Fine, nyuk nyuk nuyk)

 

[bsoileau24]

You guys are brutes !!!

We should give the condemned a choice,

Hanging
Firing squad
Guillotine
Gas
Old Sparky

Feel free to add to the list.


lol...

Wood chipper

 

[Hitman]

lol the guillotine has a thorough history of botched beheadings,
but of course technology in its hay day wasn't what it is today.
blunt blades would only break the neck or go partially through the spine.
Occasionally it'd hit in different places, requiring multiple "attempts" -
all while the condemned was screaming in agony at a public execution.

It was one of THE MOST successful forms of execution in human history.

"guillotine has a thorough history of botched beheadings,"

Care to share?

In fact the only reason the country who used it the most did away with it
is b/c of the pansies who did away with capital punishment altogether.

 

[FORman]

Wood chipper

Belt sander.

 

[tim9lives]

It was one of THE MOST successful forms of execution in human history.

Care to share?

In fact the only reason the country who used it the most did away with it
is b/c of the pansies who did away with capital punishment altogether.

Yea...that's what I thought also. I forget the numbers...but it was in the tens of thousands over a few years.

Like I said in earlier post...I remember reading that there were mobile portable guillotines which were on the back of a wagon....and would roll into town, chop a few heads...roll to the next town...and so on. Maybe those were not very well maintained. But by and large, a properly maintained stationary guillotine is almost foolproof IMO.

Firing squad is pretty good too(and cheap) providing everyone is a decent shot. Its hard to survive 6 or so bullets to the chest....preferably the heart.

 

[oleheat]

I heard a news report yesterday about the double-murderer in AZ whose execution took two hours....his lawyer claimed he was "gasping for air and snorting while trying to breathe"....

Wishful thinking- but I was hoping to hear it was from one of his victims' family members holding a boot heel on his throat.

 

[Hitman]

Yea...that's what I thought also. I forget the numbers...but it was in the tens of thousands over a few years.

Like I said in earlier post...I remember reading that there were mobile portable guillotines which were on the back of a wagon....and would roll into town, chop a few heads...roll to the next town...and so on. Maybe those were not very well maintained. But by and large, a properly maintained stationary guillotine is almost foolproof IMO.

Firing squad is pretty good too(and cheap) providing everyone is a decent shot. Its hard to survive 6 or so bullets to the chest....preferably the heart.

Yea the French went a little

with it.
Like 300 in 2 days once....

- - - Updated - - -

I heard a news report yesterday about the double-murderer in AZ whose execution took two hours....his lawyer claimed he was "gasping for air and snorting while trying to breathe"....

Wishful thinking- but I was hoping to hear it was from one of his victims' family members holding a boot heel on his throat.

Sounds like a successful execution to me...he died right? ....

I wonder how much his (INNOCENT) Victims gasped
when he shot them to death in their workplace. To include the girlfriend
where he put her in a choke hold and shot her in the stomach first and then the chest.
Nothing like a sucking chest wound to make you gasp.
http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/wood-joseph.htm

Yea....my heart aches for Woods
gasping for breath on the Lethal Injection Table.

 

[madwabbit]

It was one of THE MOST successful forms of execution in human history.


Care to share?

In fact the only reason the country who used it the most did away with it
is b/c of the pansies who did away with capital punishment altogether.

Eh, not bs. I said "historically", so note that the peak of guillotine usage was almost 300 years ago. Quick history lesson for ya, since you asked: When the pre 1792 guillotines were used, they often had to be repaired after only one use- the second would miss the neck and hit the shoulders or skull (this didn't immediately kill the victim). It wasn't until almost 100 years later that the Berger was invented with a more reliable restraint and a heavier blade used. The problem with this model was sharpening the blades, because of a fault in the design they couldn't (didn't want to) sharpen while the system was disengaged. Thus, when an execution failed to sever the spinal cord, an executioner would finish the job and executions postponed until the construction of a new guillotine- which took days.

Considering that nearly 50,000 to this monster in the french revolution, (let alone the totality of european history), and there are only a few documented botched executions on record you could probably say that they were "very reliable". Of course, these occurrences were not worthy of record in those days, so take that for what its worth as well.

Post 1824, you'd probably be right. They improved the design and made it fairly"fool-proof".
Pre 1823, criminals were so afraid of the guillotine that they'd attempt suicide multiple times before their execution.

My time at campbell included interviewing death row inmates (2001 and 2002), witnessing an execution (2004), and a thesis on the history of capital punishment (2005).



Now that that's all said, we'd obviously build a guillotine better today than was used in 1793... so moot point. But no, it was not a perfect system. And to be clear- I'm very much in favor of it. bring it back tomorrow morning, and bring public executions back the day after. In fact, I'm not opposed to bringing back hangings on the court house lawn.

 

[kingfhb]

I doubt we would actually bring back an old wooden half-sharpened blade device. That thing today would be all stainless with a razor sharp blade driven by an electro-magnet or hydraulics.

 

[oleheat]

Sounds like a successful execution to me...he died right? ....

I wonder how much his (INNOCENT) Victims gasped
when he shot them to death in their workplace. To include the girlfriend
where he put her in a choke hold and shot her in the stomach first and then the chest.
Nothing like a sucking chest wound to make you gasp.
http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/wood-joseph.htm

Yea....my heart aches for Woods
gasping for breath on the Lethal Injection Table.

Bingo. I get sick of hearing these reports where all you hear about is whether or not the f-ing MURDERER died in comfort. What bull$hit. The unspeakable things these people do to get from "Point A To Point B" should NOT be forgotten and ignored- but they always are. Except by the families whose lives were forever changed.


That little bullet we've talked about concerning this topic in the past is readily available, again. Just saying.

 

[Hitman]

The 1792 design is the quote/unquote "Guillotine".
The models before that were similar but not of the same design.

The 1792 design, tweeked as the year went by
was very successful and like I said, there is no
"thorough history of botched beheadings".

It's success record and longevity of use however
is well documented.

HACK! >

 

[madwabbit]

I doubt we would actually bring back an old wooden half-sharpened blade device. That thing today would be all stainless with a razor sharp blade driven by an electro-magnet or hydraulics.

exactly, and I mentioned that point as well. Technology has made a few advancements in the last 300 years...