HELLO, OKLAHOMA, EVER HEARD OF DR. GUILLOTIN?
(…his process was much simpler…and more effective)

The recently botched execution in Oklahoma where the complex procedures involved with lethal injection went wrong is another example of what happens when the K.I.S.S. principle is ignored.

Lethal injection as the means of execution was adopted by most states largely because of the hue and cry raised by anti-death-penalty advocates who claimed that other methods then used…hanging, the electric chair, and the gas chamber…all violated the Constitution’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment”. It was a somewhat specious contention since all of those methods had long been in use until then, and never been questioned; but, making it a constitutional issue was simply the best means to attempt to do away with the death penalty, with the lethal injection method thus becoming a compromise.

At the time, anti-death-penalty advocates accepted that compromise mistakenly believing it was more “humane” than the previous methods. For their part the state authorities accepted it mostly because it was seemingly much less expensive (the real clincher for them), but, as we’ve seen, that hasn’t always been the case…on both counts.

The State of Utah, however, has managed to maintain probably the simplest and least costly method of execution as an option that is…a firing squad. Of course, Dr. Guillotin’s invention is also quite simple, and ever so quick, with the condemned hardly having the time to blink… before it’s all over. Its main drawback, however, is the rather bloody mess that has to be cleaned up afterwards.

Well, the death penalty issue will not be resolved any time soon. The pro and con arguments about it will continue as long as capital punishment remains the penalty for capital crime, even for those who unquestionably deserve it; but, what all these arguments about it really boil down to is mostly about method…rather than about having the penalty itself.

That being the case perhaps this alternative might prove to be a more “humane”, simpler, and less costly method of execution: Flowing CO2…into an anaerobic chamber. The replacement of air with CO2 will immediately render a person unconscious, and cause expiration in the matter of a few minutes. The condemned is simply put to sleep… permanently.

As an industrial gas it’s readily available, is much less costly than the drugs needed for lethal injection, and, requires nothing more complex than a simple hardwood chair with restraints to administer. If we’re going to continue with capital punishment that’s about as humane and effective as it gets.

CENTURION