In a pointless article in the WSJ today, Wyoming decided to declare the firing squad as a backup plan to lethal injection. It gets extremely confusing because the reasoning is that there are “problems with the supply of lethal-injection drugs.” How many people does Wyoming have to deal with the death penalty you may ask?
Wyoming, the nation’s least populous state, has no one on death row and has executed only one person since 1976.
There is more written in the article but it’s mostly hooey. Fortunately this spurred a blog topic in better ways to kill inmates than by a firing squad which has to be a horrible way to go. How many people does a firing squad consist of? Can’t it be 1 bullet to the brain? Why do we need a squad of men to fire at the same time? Who picks this is as a back-up? Wyoming, this is why you don’t deserve respect. Choose one of these.
Guillotine – Used during the French Revolution to kill thousands. Declared inhumane.
Cost – A sharp blade falling from the sky doesn’t sound too expensive plus it can be re-used as long as it was maintained. The contraption looks as simple as some wood an nails.
Death – Instant. I couldn’t think of a better way to go.
Problem – If the blade gets dull and you get a hanger. That would be uncomfortable.
Cement Shoes – Cement shoes traditionally involve binding or incapacitating the victim and placing each foot into the two spaces of a cinder block, which is then filled with wet cement. The victim is then throw into a deep body of water. Hence the phrase, “sleeping with the fishes.”
Cost – The cinder block and cement. Time waiting for the cement.
Death – Hard to describe. Probably painless and zero clean up. Shark population would increase.
Problem – If the inmate somehow dislodges from the cinderblock and isn’t fish food, corpses could start floating around.
The 300 Hole – “THIS IS SPARTAAAA!” It’s possible that the hole ends somewhere below but I like to think of it as never ending.
Cost – High. Lots of digging. Not really sure how it turns into the abyss. If it doesn’t turn into the abyss, bodies piling up would eventually make it useless.
Death – Hitting the ground would hurt and more broken bones might be more likely.
Problem – Uncertainty surrounds the depths of the hole.
Guillotine is fool-proof. We can make steak knives that never go dull for $100, I’m sure we can throw a couple extra bones to ensure the quality of the blade and make sure it’s a perfect cut every time. This gets my vote.
Cement shoes aren’t bad, but again, uncertainty and possible problems with corpses are causes for concern. Also, I believe drowning is one of the least pleasant ways to die.
The 300 hole would be good. Hell, even if they don’t die, the next tard you throw down will probably kill him. You’d need to periodically dump a ton of acid down there to dissolve the bodies and make room.
Firing squad- only 1 person gets a real bullet and the rest are firing blanks. No one knows who fired the real shot so gult/blame is not direct.
Guillotine- doesn’t kill you instantly- “Following this incident, people executed by guillotine during the Revolution were asked to blink afterward, and witnesses claim that the blinking occurred for up to 30 seconds”
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/10-brain-myths6.htm