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South Carolina adds firing squad as execution


Still Waters

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Executions in South Carolina can now be carried out by firing squad after senators moved to address a shortage of lethal injection drugs.

South Carolina's state senate approved the move 32-11 on Tuesday, with a number of Democrats joining their Republican colleagues in the vote.

It means that executions in the state can now be restarted after an almost 10-year delay, with those on death row having been able to exploit a grim courtesy that allows them to choose how they would die.

Inmates have been allowed to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection - and prisoners have opted for the latter knowing that it is unavailable, thus delaying their execution.

https://news.sky.com/story/south-carolina-adds-firing-squad-to-execution-methods-to-address-lethal-injection-shortage-12234370

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This is interesting.  

Not sure if I'm in favor of it or not.  I guess it somewhat depends on how it is done.   Will it be sharpshooters who can take the guy out quickly?  I don't know that I want to see the guy shot in the abdomen 15 times before he dies.

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I am against the government having the right to take human life.  Lock them in a room by themselves with access to a library of philosophy and religious texts and feed them twice a day.

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7 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I am against the government having the right to take human life.  Lock them in a room by themselves with access to a library of philosophy and religious texts and feed them twice a day.

If I was only going to be fed twice a day, I'd rather be shot!

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48 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I am against the government having the right to take human life.  Lock them in a room by themselves with access to a library of philosophy and religious texts and feed them twice a day.

i get that.   It's a tough choice and I can see both sides.    I currently support the death penalty.   I think it stems most from a good friend who had his sister raped and murdered.  The guilty guy (no doubt of his guilt) got40 years or so in prison.   My friend has had a hard time with him living when his sister is dead.     

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17 minutes ago, Myles said:

i get that.   It's a tough choice and I can see both sides.    I currently support the death penalty.   I think it stems most from a good friend who had his sister raped and murdered.  The guilty guy (no doubt of his guilt) got40 years or so in prison.   My friend has had a hard time with him living when his sister is dead.     

I sympathize but him being dead by all accounts won't make your friend feel one bit better, and it's not supposed to be about revenge.  I have a few reasons for the way I feel firstly being I don't like or trust the government and I don't want them to have the power of life or death over the citizens.  Another reason is we know factually there have been plenty of wrongly convicted and wrongly executed people.  I also have spiritual reasons, I feel we are here to learn and you don't know what a person may discover about themselves or the world locked up by themselves for the remainder of their lives but we do know what they'll learn if we kill them, which is nothing and even if they denied someone of the right to live and learn the lessons of this life doesn't mean they should lose that ability.  Let me add that the guy that raped and murdered your friends sister should never be allowed out of prison or granted the company of other people ever again.  

Edited by OverSword
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17 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I sympathize but him being dead by all accounts won't make your friend feel one bit better

Despite what dreamers and writers like to believe idk if that is actually true.

Has there ever been a study on it?

Edit: to elaborate I mean studies on victims and seeing their abuser get the death penality.

There are lots of studies on revenge in general with mixed results.

Some show positive some negative. But the negative ones normally seem to make people feel worse because of how much they had to lose or sacrifice to get revenge.

Whereas with the death penality the victim wouldn't need to sacrifice anything to get revenge. 

Edited by spartan max2
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19 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I sympathize but him being dead by all accounts won't make your friend feel one bit better, and it's not supposed to be about revenge.  I have a few reasons for the way I feel firstly being I don't like or trust the government and I don't want them to have the power of life or death over the citizens.  Another reason is we know factually there have been plenty of wrongly convicted and wrongly executed people.  I also have spiritual reasons, I feel we are here to learn and you don't know what a person may discover about themselves or the world locked up by themselves for the remainder of their lives but we do know what they'll learn if we kill them, which is nothing and even if they denied someone of the right to live and learn the lessons of this life doesn't mean they should lose that ability.  Let me add that the guy that raped and murdered your friends sister should never be allowed out of prison or granted the company of other people ever again.  

I agree but unfortunately we know better.   Prison is not where you "want" to be, but it isn't horrible.  
 

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20 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

Despite what dreamers and writers like to believe idk if that is actually true.

Has there ever been a study on it?

Edit: to elaborate I mean studies on victims and seeing their abuser get the death penality.

There are lots of studies on revenge in general with mixed results.

Some show positive some negative. But the negative ones normally seem to make people feel worse because of how much they had to lose or sacrifice to get revenge.

Whereas with the death penality the victim wouldn't need to sacrifice anything to get revenge. 

I have seen plenty of people say themselves on crime dramas and the news that the death of the person that murdered their loved one didn't make them feel better.  And our punishing people for breaking the law is not about trying to make people/victims feel better.  I get how people feel, there are plenty of times when my knee jerk reaction is that mother ****er should die horribly.  

Edit to add that I have wondered if someone committed a bad enough crime against my family member would I hunt them down for additional punishment after they got out.  I think I might if I though I would get away with it (and I would).

Edited by OverSword
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31 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I have seen plenty of people say themselves on crime dramas and the news that the death of the person that murdered their loved one didn't make them feel better.  And our punishing people for breaking the law is not about trying to make people/victims feel better.  I get how people feel, there are plenty of times when my knee jerk reaction is that mother ****er should die horribly.  

Edit to add that I have wondered if someone committed a bad enough crime against my family member would I hunt them down for additional punishment after they got out.  I think I might if I though I would get away with it (and I would).

I assume it depends on the individual.   Some use forgiveness instead of revenge.   If it works for them then great.   It wouldn't work for me.   It would depend on the crime, but if someone killed my wife or daughter I would want them dead.  

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1 hour ago, Myles said:

i get that.   It's a tough choice and I can see both sides.    I currently support the death penalty.   I think it stems most from a good friend who had his sister raped and murdered.  The guilty guy (no doubt of his guilt) got40 years or so in prison.   My friend has had a hard time with him living when his sister is dead.     

Does the death penalty deter the crime?  I don’t know but knowing the time and place of your death is punishment in itself,

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Another consideration is that the way the system is set up it's more expensive to execute someone.

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3 hours ago, Still Waters said:

Executions in South Carolina can now be carried out by firing squad after senators moved to address a shortage of lethal injection drugs.

South Carolina's state senate approved the move 32-11 on Tuesday, with a number of Democrats joining their Republican colleagues in the vote.

It means that executions in the state can now be restarted after an almost 10-year delay, with those on death row having been able to exploit a grim courtesy that allows them to choose how they would die.

Inmates have been allowed to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection - and prisoners have opted for the latter knowing that it is unavailable, thus delaying their execution.

https://news.sky.com/story/south-carolina-adds-firing-squad-to-execution-methods-to-address-lethal-injection-shortage-12234370

I`m all for execution or penal colony.

Bullets cost 10 cents, a penal colony a few $100 do get them there. And by penal colony I mean dump those incompatible with civilization onto a remote island and let them get on with it.

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30 minutes ago, Cookie Monster said:

I`m all for execution or penal colony.

Bullets cost 10 cents, a penal colony a few $100 do get them there. And by penal colony I mean dump those incompatible with civilization onto a remote island and let them get on with it.

i don't think a penal colony would work anymore.   They could build a boat.   A boat could stop by.   Too many options to get off the island.

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Quote

 studies in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that found “subjects who were given the opportunity to vent their hostilities had higher levels of aggression and anger than those participants who did nothing at all” and “people who punish others in the hopes of making themselves feel better actually feel worse.” The death penalty, she says, “keeps victims involved in the tragedy for years, even decades, as multiple hearings, appeals and trials drag on.” As a result, family members “feel stuck in a time warp, being repeatedly re-traumatized by the legal system and accompanying media coverage.” In cases in which the death penalty is eventually carried out, “[e]xecutions do not offer emotional catharsis as many would suggest.” Instead, Griffith says, “executing perpetrators actually increased family members’ feelings of emptiness because it didn’t bring back their loved ones.”

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6 minutes ago, OverSword said:

 

Journalism vs the study.

If only 20 percent say it didn't help them heal then how about the others. 

Quote

One University of Minnesota study found that just 2.5% of co-victims reported achieving closure as a result of capital punishment, while 20.1% said the execution did not help them heal. That may be because, as one co-victim described it, “Healing is a process, not an event.”

 

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2 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

 

Journalism vs the study.

If only 20 percent say it didn't help them heal then how about the others. 

 

I don't think it would make me feel any better.  Probably wouldn't stop me from getting revenge if the opportunity came up though :lol:

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1 minute ago, OverSword said:

I don't think it would make me feel any better.  Probably wouldn't stop me from getting revenge if the opportunity came up though :lol:

I just like challenging conventional wisdom :ph34r:.

It probably just depends on the person and specific circumstances.

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27 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

I just like challenging conventional wisdom :ph34r:.

It probably just depends on the person and specific circumstances.

Yep.  

From OverSwords post:

Quote

The death penalty, she says, keeps victims involved in the tragedy for years, even decades

I don't totally agree with this.   When you know the perpetrator will be up for prole in 10 years, it eats at you as well.  

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1 hour ago, Myles said:

Yep.  

From OverSwords post:

I don't totally agree with this.   When you know the perpetrator will be up for prole in 10 years, it eats at you as well.  

There are also horror stories of people being released and murdering their accusor who got them locked up.

https://thehill-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/thehill.com/homenews/news/511108-virginia-rape-suspect-allegedly-killed-his-accuser-after-released-from-jail-due?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&amp&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16148066228965&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fhomenews%2Fnews%2F511108-virginia-rape-suspect-allegedly-killed-his-accuser-after-released-from-jail-due

The most recent examples that pop up when you Google are from people released due to Covid but there are ones I've heard of on the post from people just getting early parole.

 

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Death by hanging, if it is done correctly, is probably one of the most humane ways of execution. The spinal cord is snapped. It is instantaneous.

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I've watched a programme this evening about a woman who worked for the royal family here in the UK, who killed her boyfriend. Of course we don't have the death penalty here anymore, but a jury decided she was guilty of murder and was given 14years in prison. The victim's family said 'they were satisfied that justice had been done'. I don't think we should underestimate the positive power of justice being seen to be done.

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Interesting up until then Utah was the only state that still uses it.

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7 hours ago, OverSword said:

I sympathize but him being dead by all accounts won't make your friend feel one bit better, and it's not supposed to be about revenge. 

you are right it wont,  but it will prevent anyone else to be in a position of that friend, it is not about revenge, it is about justice,  whether or not the murderer steps outside the prison,  the whole point is to remove such individual from society, 

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