I am against the death penalty. I don’t think it’s necessary, for one thing. As long as the person is locked up, not out in the world among the general population, that is enough. That fulfills the obligation of the justice system, which is, as I see it, to keep the criminals away from the general population and vice versa. Also, I think it’s just giving too much power to the state. I suspect they would have loved to execute Chelsea Manning, if they thought they could have gotten away with it. There have definitely been politically motivated executions in American history: the Rosenbergs, Sacco and Vanzetti, Joe Hill, probably a few others.
But, I’ve never been tempted to stand outside the prison walls holding a candle, because in most specific cases, even though I object to the practice, it’s hard to have any sympathy for the person being executed. They are, in the majority of cases, horrible people.
The guy that just got executed to death in Arizona is no exception. He’d been found guilty of two murders and his death will probably not affect anybody in the world adversely. Even his family and loved ones, if he has such, will probably be just as well off with him dead.
But why does it have to be so complicated? Why does it take two hours to kill somebody? Police in Arizona, and elsewhere across the U.S., seem to be quite efficient, usually, at killing people quickly. It can happen in an instant, at a traffic stop, during a marijuana raid on your house, which may not have even been intended for your house, but all houses look pretty much alike, or while peaceably rolling down the street in your wheelchair.
There are many methods of death which don’t take two hours. You could thrown them from a high building. It might take a few seconds to reach the bottom, but that’s not two hours. You could use the guillotine. Ugly symbolism, but nobody ever said that guillotines were ineffective. Certainly, it does not take two hours to die after your head has been severed form your body.
If the vet has to put down a wounded horse, or other animal, they just get out a gun and put a bullet through it’s head. It’s quick, problem solved. Thousands, maybe millions of animals are killed in the U.S. every day, generally in swift and humane circumstances.
No, it does not take two hours to kill somebody. It makes me wonder if the authorities in Arizona really had a hard time killing this guy – or were they actually enjoying themselves.
www.gurukalehuru.com 