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And that’s basically it!
Black, 69, was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions,
Oh, well, yeah, then I can see why he needed to be executed. Clearly he was an imminent danger to society and everyone around him.
/s
Well sure he never to be executed before he could commit the heinous crime of euthanasia!
That would be inhumane!
::: spoiler
/S
It's hard for me to find sympathy for someone who murdered two children and their mother.
But even I have to admit that it feels fucked up to wait 40 years for a man to develop dementia and heart disease before executing him.
depends on what capital punishment does for you personally. it's honestly not corrective or even preventative in any way. I know some living people I would wish that on and they didn't even commit murder. but I think I would rather live in a society that instead invested in making sure these crimes never happen
Wishing someone was dead and believing that the government should have the authority to do that are two very different things, though.
correct. so fucking correct, I want to hold what you just said up on the mountain top like simba
I've wrestled with myself and reversed my own position several times throughout my life, to the point that I can't confidently advocate for one side of the issue or the other right now.
In theory, capital punishment would only be used against those who are incontrovertibly guilty. In practice, it has been used against many innocent people who would have been exonerated by later evidence.
In theory, the point of capital punishment would only be to protect society from someone who is actually too dangerous to live, not to exact vengeance. In practice, for most of the people involved, vengeance is a strong motivation.
In theory, capital punishment would be painless and humane, especially compared to a lifetime rotting in prison. In practice, executions are too-often botched, in which case they're torturously painful.
In theory, capital punishment would be carried out swiftly. In practice, inmates typically spend decades on death row, effectively punishing them with both life in prison and execution.
In theory, capital punishment should be cheaper and less of a state burden than a life sentence. In practice, it's more expensive due to the appeals and legal review process to which someone on death row is rightfully entitled.
In theory, if I myself were convicted of a capital crime today regardless of whether I was innocent, I would rather die than live the rest of my life in prison without chance of parole. In practice, I have no idea how I would actually face that situation.
In my heart, I want to believe that the world would be better-off if we swiftly and cleanly executed any monsters who prove themselves capable of murdering children. In my mind I know there is no black and white, only shades of gray.
Fuck it. I think certain traffic offenses should be punishable by death, but I can't trust the state to correctly determine guilt.
Me too, I still don't believe I've reached my final conclusion regarding how we do justice. But all of your points are well said
Are you suggesting he should never have been released after that first incident? That sounds even worse
not at all. I just think it's possible to make a society where that doesn't happen. not that it's this one.
Needed to be executed quickly before he dies by himself!
at this point that's just cost saving.
the healthcare cost exceds whatever the prison is getting, so just kill him instead.
Yeah because if he did that then.... He ... Won? And we lost? I guess?
Yeah!
Honestly if I was in this guy’s situation I might willingly consent to the chair…
Define "quickly." After all, they waited nearly 40 years for him to develop those conditions before they finally killed him
They didn't wanna let that moment go to waste
It's not about logic, or compassion, it's about JUSTICE - aka revenge, sending a message, setting an example, etc. etc.
While I don't agree with it, that's what a LOT of Tennessee voters want.
Could I please not read the most heinous headline ever for five fucking seconds
All seven media witnesses to the execution agreed he appeared to be in discomfort.
NO SHIT!! HE APPEARED TO BE IN DISCOMFORT?!
I wonder why?
This is such a strange thing to write. I don't really understand this
Why is it treated like it's meant to be a day at work or something? Or a routine procedure? This is some very strange form of normalization
Probably gas. I get the same way after eating too much fiber.
those last meals can be real belly bombs
Capital punishment should be abolished.
It already is, in civilized countries.
It also is in many US states. Only 16 states have capital punishment and have executed anyone in the last 10 years, and 22 states do not have any form of capital punishment
Per Wikipedia, Michigan was the first English speaking government to formally abolish the death penalty, abolishing it in 1847 (10 years after the state joined the union), shortly followed by Wisconsin in 1853 (5 years after the state joined the union) and Maine in 1887 (67 years after the state joined the union)
This. The state should not be able to decide who lives and who dies. Too many innocent people have and are put to death every year.
Medieval country.
This just in: the cruelty is the point.
De fucking wat now?? That is excellent not-the-onion content but hoo boy…
Edit: this article is not exactly for the faint of heart. What a godawful thing to put this guy through.
If we're going to execute people, why can we not make a simple gas chamber and flood it with nitrogen gas? Simple, cheap, foolproof, no legal hassles about suffering or cruel and unusual punishment.
They have performed a handful executions using nitrogen gas over the last few years in Mississippi and Alabama. From what I understand, the people have all shown signs of distress and oxygen hunger suffering the executions, and the autopsies show signs of distress.
I think the pathologist that reviewed the first such execution had said that it would likely have gone better if a sedative were administered beforehand. However, I'm pretty sure that nitrogen hypoxia executions were being used because pharmaceutical companies were unwilling to provide medications for use in legal injections, so that would likely extend to sedatives for use during executions. But in the absence of sedatives, the process is panic inducing, which causes people to resist inhaling the nitrogen, which in turn means that they are not exhaling as much carbon dioxide and thus experience the panic associated with suffocation.
Why not just hanging, shooting or beheading? Weird how people are trying to sanitise capital punishment
Even though there's no physical pain, opponents argue that the process involves great mental and emotional pain.
But I agree that it is one of the most humane and practical forms of involuntary euthanasia. Not that such a thing should be desired in the first place.
it's long, drawn out, and afaik painful
Nitrogen only atmospheres actually kill fairly quickly, and without any warning.
That's what makes industrial nitrogen accidents so terrifying.
The pain of suffocating is mostly your body fighting to get rid of CO2.
Now, there was a prison that recently used "nitrogen" to execute someone. But they were dumbasses with it and didn't let the excess nitrogen and CO2 vent. It was exactly the same as just tying a bag over the guys head.
Not in the slightest painful. You'll never notice anything going wrong. Nitrogen masks have been tried and failed awfully. That's why I said gas "chamber".
Red states sure do like executing people, don't they? And it goes without saying he was Black.
CBS shouldn't be cited as a news source anymore anyway. They've gone full magat. Watch their broadcast channel commercials some time. It's eerie.
Who was at risk of being shocked?
If it was the person being executed: Isn't that the whole idea?
edit: Or maybe they were just worried that the defibrilator would have prevented him from dying. 🤔
I think the point of concern is that it prolonged the entire procedure. His heart was simultaneously being chemically stopped and electrically jump-started.
The defibrillator might actually make it a horrible slow death. Imagine dying over and over again.
Yeah, the concern was that the defibrillator was shocking his heart as his heart rate slowed down, causing unnecessary pain and distress.
There was a concern that the defibrillator would keep bringing him back to life.
Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6. Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting Clay's estranged husband.
Yeah, he is infirm now. But he was a piece of shit then and, in my opinion, the only thing to take issue with is that it took 37 years to carry out his sentence.
What's the point of killing him, then or now? How does that help society in any way?
Stay classy Tennessee