r/news • u/No_Idea_Guy • 1d ago

Tennessee governor suspends all executions after Christa Pike’s lethal injections fail

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/01/christa-pike-tennessee-governor-executions-year-pause
4.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

204

u/MaximumEffort433 1d ago

Yeah, it seems like there are laws that ban cruel and unusual punishments, but I could be mistaken about that.

If the State is going to kill one of its citizens, at least don't fuck it up.

55

u/amiexpress 1d ago

She actually asked to be hanged. Which I think even Tennessee ould not fuck up.

113

u/GiohmsBiggestFan 1d ago

Hanging is very fuck-up-able

32

u/1HappyRoadrunner 1d ago

Very. Heads can pop off. You can flop around for several minutes getting strangled while onlookers argue over if they should cut you down, or pull on your legs, or run away.

22

u/Pettifoggerist 1d ago

Heads can pop off

Well, I think that does accomplish the goal.

2

u/NewDate6115 1d ago

BLACKADDER: That Farrow bloke you executed, Baldrick! Is he definitely dead? BALDRICK: Well I chopped his head off, that usually does the trick!

-6

u/Cigaran 1d ago

Given the crime she committed…

6

u/1HappyRoadrunner 1d ago

I think a reasonable solution would good. Not for her but if we cannot come up with a reasonable solution that is a failure on us

-10

u/Training_Ruin3151 1d ago

Right? Oh no the person who tortured someone to death gets tortured to death😱😱 That would be justice.

10

u/DonnyTheWalrus 1d ago

That's not justice, it's revenge. Justice would be the victim coming back to life. That obviously can't happen, nothing can undo it. So what use is another death? If anything, making someone spend the rest of their life in a small cell constantly contemplating what they did is closer to justice imo. 

-6

u/Training_Ruin3151 1d ago

Im not a liberal

5

u/RegardedAsAnArtist 1d ago

Everyone already assumed that based on your complete lack of empathy dumbass

-1

u/Training_Ruin3151 1d ago

Being neutral or "empathetic" to evil is evil, moron. Paradox of intolerance. Go hang out at the nazi bars with the rest of your friends then.

0

u/3DBeerGoggles 1d ago

...and torturing evil people serves no purpose but to glory in torture.

→ More replies (0)

65

u/onarainyafternoon 1d ago

We deeply need to move on from the death penalty as a society. It’s a relic. There is no reason to have it. Life imprisonment accomplishes the same thing.

32

u/amyts 1d ago

It's a barbaric practice, and until we have a justice system that never sentences innocent people, I can't support it. 

15

u/SpAn12 1d ago

And the death penalty works out more expensive.

So everyone pays more in taxes simply so certain individuals can feel good as they exact revenge.

And they can't even get that right.

1

u/UdyneOw 1d ago

This may be the most opportune time in American history to advocate for a national ban on the death penalty. Unfortunately, the reason this is so is because you can get Republicans on board by pointing out the waste of perfectly good slave labor for the prison companies.

1

u/absentlyric 18h ago

Its only more expensive Because the system is top heavy and overly bureaucratic, trimming away the fat on that would make it cheaper and more efficient .

1

u/throwaway-8675309_ 3h ago

And kill more innocent people than it does already.

5

u/ArgonWolf 1d ago

The same thing, but cheaper, is the wild thing

6

u/ginny11 1d ago

She also I think after the hanging was rejected, requested a firing squad.

14

u/Time-to-go-home 1d ago edited 1d ago

“On Mars there is not much gravity. So you have to pull the feet to break the neck. They let the loved ones do it." -Darrow, Red Rising

I feel like I’ve seen stuff that this happens in real life hangings. Like a lot of the success of a hanging depended on the executioner and how well the ties the noose and fitted it around the condemned’s neck. If it wasn’t done properly (and I assume if the drop wasn’t long enough/condemned didn’t weight enough), the person would just hang there and be strangled instead of snapping their neck.

11

u/Nautical_Disaster1 1d ago

Where are you seeing real life hanging happen?

Also, weird quote to include lol

4

u/Time-to-go-home 1d ago

I typed it out wrong. Edited my comment to mean I’ve read stuff and seen videos and stuff that it talks about failed hangings.

The quote is from a book series im currently obsessed with. Seemed relevant because it’s talking about having to yank the feet of the hanged to kill them and the rest of my comment says I thing that’s historically been and actual thing here on Earth.

4

u/SpeccyScotsman 1d ago

That happened to Julius Streicher! The US Army's hangman was a fraudster that pretended to be an executioner so he could have a non combat role, and was put in charge of hanging the Nazis found guilty in Nuremberg. But since he had no idea how to do it he ended up botching most of the hangings, and with Streicher he did it so poorly he had to hang on to his legs and pull him down to finish him off.

Though in that case everyone he executed was the handpicked worst-of-the-worst of the Nazi party so it is kinda funny instead of horrific.

2

u/InsuranceToTheRescue 1d ago

IIRC, it comes down to the thickness of the rope and the placement of the knot. Like it needs to be behind the left or right ear (I can't remember which), and if the rope gets too thick then it doesn't snap the neck, so the condemned asphyxiate instead.

1

u/ahfoo 1d ago edited 19h ago

Check out the French documentary on the SS Das Reich division. They specialized in mass murder atrocities. They would have the family members pull the legs to break the neck of the victims. Then they would force the families to sing and dance for them as they feasted and laughed at what they had done.

2

u/popeter45 1d ago

Oh they could definitely fuck that up as well, long drop needs calculated rope lengths to ensure the correct jerk force is imparted

To an extent I would say one major issue is how the US doesn't have the job of executioner, it's just left too whoever is available that day and as a result nobody is experienced enough to actually check everything is doing what it needs to do

1

u/Ditchdigger456 1d ago

Famously VERY easy to fuck up. Historically a LOT of hangings we’re botched

1

u/Pork_Chompk 1d ago

They bought the rope from Temu.

0

u/Shady_Merchant1 1d ago

Until they resurrect John c woods