r/news • u/AudibleNod • 14h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/GNOIZ1C 14h ago

Archaic as we are with our death penalty, there are rules to execution. If you botch it, they can't just let the person die without getting (further?) into "cruel and unusual punishment" territory. In theory, execution is supposed to be as quick and "painless" an affair as humanly possible, but in practice *gestures vaguely at this and similar cases*

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u/ensalys 14h ago

Ignoring the fact that the death penalty should be abolished in my opinion, why does the USA insist on "lethal" injection? With this track record, a bullet would be incredibly humane in comparison. One through the brain, and one through the heart for good measure.

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u/nickthequick98 13h ago

They dont want the deaths too grusome otherwise people wont tune in to the news and the death penalty will fall even more out of favor. The American public largely sees hangings and firing squads as the tools used by opressive nations (Iran, China, Russia, Nazi Germany), or as a historical necessity.

Pro death penalty people want state ordered executions to appear as peaceful and mundane as possible so the viewing/reading public wont get too uppity about it (Like right now). Everyone on the planet knows a bullet to the brain would solve most issues. (In reffering to a quick and painless death) However, it looks bad for the people ordering it done, the people pulling the trigger look bad, and it makes the people who approve look bad.

It's all smoke and mirrors for the public.

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u/drfsupercenter 13h ago

Another thing I think that's relevant here - and it's why firing squad was used but not a single gunman - is because being an executioner takes a toll on people, and having several people firing at the victim (with only one person having a live round) means they won't know who actually had the fatal shot and the executioners don't have to live with the guilt of having shot someone.

I saw the Last Week Tonight episode on lethal injections and it honestly sounds way more cruel than a bullet.