Kentucky to change execution method from 3 drugs

23536

23536

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Kentucky officials signaled Thursday they will change how prisoners are executed, opening the door to using a single drug instead of the current three-drug method that has been challenged by inmates who call it cruel and unusual punishment.

The Kentucky Justice Cabinet filed notice in Franklin Circuit Court that it would propose new regulations by July 24. The single-page motion does not say what changes will be made. The new method could be in place by late summer, allowing Kentucky to begin executions later this year.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd in April gave Kentucky 90 days to make changes or face a trial to defend the three-drug method. Shepherd said if Kentucky adopts a new regulation allowing for a one-drug execution -- similar to what is done in Ohio, Arizona and other states -- any claims of cruel and unusual punishment by the inmates "will be rendered moot."

At least seven states use a single drug to carry out executions. Three states -- Idaho, Washington and South Dakota -- give an option to use more than one drug. In the last week, Missouri became the first state to switch to propofol, the same anesthetic that caused the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson.

Kentucky's current method calls for a single drug or combination of drugs. The state last used sodium thiopental, pancurionium bromide and potassium chloride, a combination similar to the one used by Georgia and some other states.

When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's three-drug method in 2007, Shepherd wrote, a one-drug method was still untested. That's no longer the case. Since then, states have successfully used a single drug for executions, creating what Shepherd called a safer alternative for lethal injections.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/06/01/ky_to_change_execution_method_from_3_drugs/
 
I'm sure many would-be violent felons are closely monitoring this situation. A repeal of the death penalty would certainly result in an apocalypse of rape and murder.

If there is no suffering, what is the point of execution? Is there any evidence that the possibility of a death penalty reduces violent crime?

I'm sure it would be a deterrent if it were slow and painful, but since the constitution does not allow that, what is the point of a painless capital punishment???
 
23536 said:
I'm sure many would-be violent felons are closely monitoring this situation. A repeal of the death penalty would certainly result in an apocalypse of rape and murder.

If there is no suffering, what is the point of execution? Is there any evidence that the possibility of a death penalty reduces violent crime?

I'm sure it would be a deterrent if it were slow and painful, but since the constitution does not allow that, what is the point of a painless capital punishment???
Click to expand...

Doubt it. I think the people who end up on death row aren't usually the most intelligent, apprehensive or calculating individuals. And those who are usually think they're smart enough to get away with their shit.
 
I rememer watching a BBC Horizon program on the death penalty. This kindly brit went around trying to find the nicest method of execution for everyone involved, and finally decided that essentially axphyxia from lack of oxygen is the best because you simply lapse into happy unconciousness and stop responding before you finally pass on.

So he goes to consult one of the American higher ups who basically told him "That's great, but the whole point of lethal injection is to make the victim suffer. If we had a truly painless method of lethal injection then nobody would fear it, and it would be a useless penalty."

That made me stop and think for a while. I thought the whole point of the death penalty was to remove particularly violent or unpleasant offenders from society forever, not torture them under the flag of the state with the excuse that you're making society better by stopping a paralysed man's heart while he's still aware of it...

That said, I think most people can grasp the fact that if you commit a serious enough crime, or series thereof, that just pumping a few hundred ml of propofol into you and turning your brain off is a real possibility.
 
I've done propofol before, I imagine that it would be a pretty good way to die. Barbiturates probably wouldn't be bad either. I imagine just becoming very light headed and then falling asleep. That's what propofol was like during my one experience with it at least.

But it's fucking ridiculous that we still execute people in America at all. I agree with 23536's second post x1000. The death penalty does not reduce crime, is by its very nature cruel and barbaric (especially in America, where execution is often preceded by 20-40 years of mostly solitary confinement), is obscenely costly and generally serves no purpose other than moral retribution, which I don't think the state should be dishing out in the first place.
 
Solide said:
Doubt it. I think the people who end up on death row aren't usually the most intelligent, apprehensive or calculating individuals. And those who are usually think they're smart enough to get away with their shit.
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Seriously. I don't think they're thinking about the penalties at all. I mean fuck, certain countries have the death penalty for drug offenses, and well, people still sell/use in those places.


I'm against the death penalty, but uh, bring back the guillotine... :D
 
^ funny, the united states has a lot more murders that a lot of comparable nations that do not have the death penalty.
the murder rate has nothing to do with the potential punishment.
 
Hit the opiate maintenance people on death row with a gram of naltrexone then give them a gun with one bullet >:D
 
spacejunk said:
^ funny, the united states has a lot more murders that a lot of comparable nations that do not have the death penalty.
the murder rate has nothing to do with the potential punishment.
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I wonder what the murder rate is for nations that publicly execute by hanging, or electrocution, or drowning.

Ours is high because of our astronomical gun ownership.
 
23536 said:
I'm sure many would-be violent felons are closely monitoring this situation. A repeal of the death penalty would certainly result in an apocalypse of rape and murder.

If there is no suffering, what is the point of execution? Is there any evidence that the possibility of a death penalty reduces violent crime?

I'm sure it would be a deterrent if it were slow and painful, but since the constitution does not allow that, what is the point of a painless capital punishment???
Click to expand...

We hung people, didn't we? There are still the hooks for gallows in courts in the south, and I recall reading that some state still allowed a person to opt for death by firing squad. But I haven't kept up on this so much recently unfortunately, so I can't speak with much certainty. I'd be all for public hangings in front of the Texas State Capitol in Downtown Austin, Texas :D

severely etarded said:
flunitrazepam would work well
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No it wouldn't the LD50 for small mammals is a few grams per kg body weight, so we would be looking at taking like 10-20 grams each?! that's easily thousands or hundreds of thousands of 2mg flunitrazepam roofies!!!
 
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