Would capital punishment be considered torture?

Question

ok so i am doing a debate on capital punishment in a class i am taking and my partner and i chose to be against it. we are trying to get other peoples views on capital punishment. Just becuase it is the death penalty doesnt mean things always go right. what if something happens and causes the person to suffer from pain....is that not torture... i mean when they use lethal injections they strap you to a table and inject you with drugs that sometimes dont always work the way they are supposed to and cause great pain....is that not torture?

i've been doing some research....and i have found out that yes lethal injections are supposed to be painless. But it doesnt always work out that way.The thiopental may wear off and lead to conciousness and an excruciatingly painful death where the inmate is unable to express their pain because they are paralyzed from the drugs.Also they could die an agonizing death by suffocation due to the paralytic effects of pancuronium bromide and the intense burning sensation of the potassium chloride.

Answer 1

It is not torture if carried out properly. The trouble is, to carry it out properly really needs medically-trained personnel. Both doctors and nurses take different forms of the Hippocratic Oath. As I'm sure everyone reading this knows, that requires them to "Do no harm." Killing someone does them harm because all death involves pain.

One thing I do not understand, just as an aside. That doctor who assisted patients to commit suicide was recently released from prison. He helped people who had chosen, for their own reasons, to end their lives and he paid for it with his freedom. Yet we expect medical people to help in the execution of people who, for the most part, do not want to die (see the court case in NC last week). Don't you find that rather strange?

EDIT: Just seen your additional details. The Supreme Court is going to consider if it is "cruel and unusual punishment" and thus against the 8th amendment to the US Constitution. If you want some hard facts, google Lancet and capital punishment. That should bring up an article in the British medical journal "The Lancet" from 2005 which discusses the pain felt by condemned inmates during their execution.

Answer 2

You have it right about the lethal drug cocktail. For a list of articles specificallly dealing with this take a look at
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=1686&scid=64#statements.

I also took at look at an article by Michael Radelet (University of Colorado) at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=478 and found 20 examples of botched executions by lethal injection. These would be the cases where misteps and problems were obvious because of the time the executions took, and do not include any others where the condemned may have been fully conscious while he was asphysiated.

I find it hard to understand that some of the pro death penalty people who answered your question seem to be in favor of "death by torture."

Note to Coach: I found at least 4 of cases on the list where it was clear that the condemned was in great pain. (Robyn Lee Parks, Justin Lee May, Emmitt Foster, Scott Dawn Carpenter.)

Answer 3

The Supreme Court is considering this matter right now. It turns out that people may be experiencing considerable pain while undergoing lethal injection. It should be possible to anesthetize someone (like they do before surgery) so they won't feel any pain when the lethal drugs are injected. But the states are not doing it that way, so the whole thing is on hold until the Supreme Court decides.

Answer 4

If you use that argument, you need to supply facts to back it up. I am not aware of ANY lethal injection that went wrong and caused great pain. If you cant argue it here, you wont successfully argue it against your classmate. Lets say a lethal injection went wrong and caused pain (for arguments sake), it was not the intention of the act that caused the pain, in fact it is proved that lethal injection is the most painless and humane way to euthanize a person. This is why we dont hang people anymore. Arguments for and against capitol punishment will go on as long as there is heinous crime/criminals. Good luck.

Answer 5

Torture requires a specific intent to cause that harm. If medication reacts differently in someone resulting in pain, that is not torture, that is an unintended result.

A question back at you. How does anyone know how much "excruciating" pain these criminals feel right before they die? How can we ask them if they are dead? How do we know that suffocation until death is painful. How do we know that anyone feels pain when they are paralyzed and can't communicate? Sounds like a WHOLE lot of assumptions to me. Not saying dying is all kittens and balloons but what I hear in your question is the rhetoric of the money driven defense attorney who is as bereft of morals and integrity as the criminals they defend.

Answer 6

It depends on what country you are talking about and what fashion it is done in.
In the U.S., the only country whose systems I know...
I personally believe that "Lethal Injection" is the best way because it kills you without causing you pain. "Electric Chair" I might consider torture but at the same time you have to take into account that hopefully the person who is undergoing the Capital Punishment is guilty of a crime far worse than what is happening to them.

Answer 7

"may" cause pain ... "what if" it causes pain ... "possible" pain felt.

There are no facts to support this. We have no idea if the person feels pain, they are dead within minutes. Death itself is painful I'm sure, but I wouldn't exactly call it torture.

If you used the definition that some want for torture, then everytime a doctor sticks a needle in your arm, it's torture. Every time you go under anesthesia, it's torture.

The fact is, there is NO method to putting a rabid dog down that does not cause some amount of pain. It's a grim thing, but it is necessary. In all honesty, I'm not concerned with the pain a murderer feels for 3 minutes. I think we have better things we can spend our time on, like working to help the victim's family overcome their grief.

Answer 8

Exactly the question many states are using to suspend executions for those presently on death row. Look up capital punishment and the latest news on the internet covers the subject well. You picked a good subject. Lots of stuff out there on it right now. Good luck.

Answer 9

If someone kills someone, they deserve to die. If it's not self defense, fry 'em up baby! End of story.

Answer 10

No, it's done humanely, I would however, argur the point all day that it is homocide in the first degree (premeditated).