Problems With The Death Penalty - And Response (6)

  • Friday, August 3, 2018

In less than a week, it's likely that Tennessee will perform a legally sanctioned, premeditated killing of one of its citizens.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis just announced the Catholic Church now opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. 

The Pope said the death penalty violates the Gospel and amounts to the voluntary killing of a human life, which “is always sacred in the eyes of the creator.” 

Billy Ray Irick is scheduled to be put to death by "lethal injection protocol" at the Riverbend Maximum Security Facility on Aug. 9, unless Governor Bill Haslam grants clemency, or there is another delay. 

The last time the state of Tennessee performed a court sanctioned killing was 2009. 

There are over 60 Tennessee inmates on death row, so now's a good time to take another look at this taxpayer funded folly. 

First, there's the ethical question.  Is it right to take a life?   Why don't persons who oppose abortion see the inconsistency of supporting the death penalty?

Is it humane? 

Over two-thirds of the countries on earth have abolished it. 

The U.S. is one of five countries in the world responsible for most of these premeditated killings, along with North Korea, China, Iran and Yemen.  And within the U.S.,Tennessee is one of only 31 states where it is legal. 

Killing some innocent defendants is an unavoidable consequence. 

Over 150 people in the U.S. have been exonerated from death row since 1973, (many with DNA evidence) prior to their execution. 

We may never know how many innocents have actually been put to premeditated death by mistake. 

The death penalty is arbitrary and unfair.  Almost all death row inmates could not afford their own attorney at trial. Local politics, the location of the crime, plea bargains and pure chance make it a lottery of who lives and who dies. 

Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, about 80 percent of all executions have taken place in the South (about 35 percent in Texas alone). 

Then there are practical questions.  

From a taxpayer's perspective, it costs less to keep a convicted murderer locked up for life than it does to legally kill them. 

And there is no good evidence that the death penalty reduces murder rates or acts as a deterrent for crime in general.  

In April 2012, The National Research Council concluded that studies claiming that the death penalty affects murder rates were “fundamentally flawed” because they did not consider the effects of noncapital punishments and used “incomplete or implausible models.” A 2009 survey of criminologists revealed that over 88 percent believed the death penalty was not a deterrent to murder. 

FBI data showed that the 14 U.S. States without capital punishment in 2008 had homicide rates at or below the national rate. 

Regarding the specifics of the process in Tennessee: 

This killing likely will involve the use of the sedative midazolam in an attempt to cause unconsciousness, and potassium chloride to stop his heart from beating. A third drug (pancuronium)  may be used to cause muscle paralysis and to stop breathing. 

This three drug protocol has been challenged as resulting in an experience of "torture". 

In a five to four decision in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court case (Glossip v. Gross) ruled that midazolam can be used as the first drug in a three drug protocol. The dissenting justices argued that there was no evidence that midazolam would cause deep, coma-like unconsciousness required where a state intends to cause death with painful drugs. 

Midazolam has been used in prior botched execution attempts where observers stated the victim did not seem fully unconscious.  

If Tennessee wishes to continue killing, our legislature should modify the process to include euthanasia by nitrogen gas - inert gas asphyxiation. In this method, the condemned is sealed in an airtight chamber pumped full of nitrogen. The prisoner would detect no abnormal sensation while breathing the odorless, tasteless gas and would not undergo the painful experience of suffocation which is caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood, not lack of oxygen.  The process is very rapid and there is no evidence that it is painful. 

Matthew Hine, M.D.

* * * 

Mr. Hine,

Billy Ray Irick openly confessed to raping 7-year-old Paula Dyer while she was unconscious from blunt force trauma before she was murdered by asphyxiation.  I can’t even imagine the sheer pain and fear this young girl suffered before she was murdered as these thoughts are inhumane.   

And you want to compare his rights to those of an unborn child? 

Irick lost his human rights due to his inhumane torture and killing of a child and the death penalty is not even just punishment for this man. 

You, sir, need to have your head examined for even trying to make a comparison between the two.  

Chris Morgan  

* * *

While there is always much to be said about “cruel and unusual punishment” by learned, introspective and well-spoken members of our society (discounting the knee-jerk liberal anti-everything adherents), capital punishment is not only needed in America, it needs to be more consistent and wide-spread. Only 60 death row inmates in Tennessee? It’s sad there are so few when so many are deserving of it. 

While I agree that nitrogen asphyxiation may be a more humane means of execution, the fact that it is faster and easier should play a larger role in a bigger picture. And once sentence has been passed, humanity has nothing to do with it.

What makes Dr. Hine more worthy of supplanting his pacifist views on the punishment of capitol offenders than you or I? What I find heinous is allowing dangerous and socially pathological offenders 30 years on death row to get their just reward. Execution only after dozens of useless and needless appeals is a waste of time, energy and monetary outlay.

Personally, I feel it is the offender who made the ultimate decision for capital punishment when the crime was committed. I have found few if any believable mitigating circumstances. Pacifists like Dr. Hine would probably note that many murders take place in a “one time” act of heightened emotional state, probably never to occur again. On the contrary: murder is murder, death is death, culpability should be inescapable, unless Dr. Hine is on your sentencing jury.

Only 60 death row inmates? With all the hard-drug pushers meting out poison multiple times each hour, certainly a majority of them are deserving an immediate appointment with God.

Habitual drunk drivers, nationally, kill well-over three times as many people each year than were killed at Pearl Harbor or 9-11. I don’t see any national referendum placing tighter restrictions on these miscreants.

Yes, capital punishment is not only needed but required. Tennessee needs more of it without feather-bedding the legal profession with so many loopholes for appeal. Ethics, personal feelings, mitigating circumstances are all slippery slopes that result in failing to do what is right, needed and lawful.

For me, shirking social responsibility in the name of pacifism is an unswallowable stone. If the measure of a society is based on its mercy, then society has ventured far enough.

Dave Fihn 

* * * 

I do not wish to debate the death penalty with you.But an example of your wrong headed conclusions follows. 

The death penalty when carried out does in fact deter the murder from ever murdering again. 

Pete Clark

* * * 

Dr. Hine, 

I have never actually studied the pros and cons of capitol punishment. After reading your article, I spent some time looking at writings from both sides of the issue. What I definitely saw was that some of the findings regarding capitol punishment you have listed are actually due for more study in order to be validated. 

I am not a physician but I do have some relevant experience from the victim end of murder cases. During my tenure at Erlanger Medical Center one of my radiology duties was to perform series of x-rays on suspicious deaths and known murders. During that time the Chattanooga Police did not have their own forensics center. Since Erlanger was the county hospital, it fell to the morgue and pathologists there to examine suspicious deaths, etc.

The most horrible of circumstances surrounding death passed in front of my eyes and through my hands. I cannot elaborate here or my writing will not be published. I remember each and every case and have experienced vivid dreams on many occasions. Suffice it to say that if I remember these cases over a period of 38 years, they were beyond any measure of human morality. 

A jury looks at an accused murderer after they have been scraped clean, nicely dressed, and had a "makeover". The jury hears about the crime and they may see pictures of the victim and or the murder scene. It is quite different from standing next to the victim in a morgue and hear the pathologist describe the death. It is different when you overhear detectives sharing observations from the crime scene soon after a murder. 

I could care less what other countries do in regards to capitol punishment. I am not a Catholic but I do respect those who are. Unfortunately they have ignored Old and New Testament warnings about those who do evil and the justness of the man whose sword administers punishment for that evil. 

I have always wondered about the drugs used for lethal injection. The cocktail seems unduly complex and cases were cited where the administration was not calculated properly. Another problem is that some lethal injections were halted because they could not locate veins due to the prisoners size or previous IV drug abuse history.

We all know that there are many ways to provide quick executions, but not all of them lend themselves to an audience. I can say that nothing I read changed my mind about capitol punishment. When a person or persons step outside of known humane actions, they give up the right to a humane death or treatment in my opinion.

Ted Ladd

* * * 

I used to support the death penalty but am now against it because punishment should be swift.  In many cases it takes years to actually convict someone and a ridiculous amount of time to actually carry out a sentence, 20-30 years or more in most cases.  The cost of putting someone to death is higher than life in prison given all the legal challenges.  Lock them up in a supermax prison, throw away the key, and never mention their name again.  

Jerry Hickey

* * * 

If, in fact, the Pope believes the death penalty is wrong in all cases why is he still protected by armed guards? What is the purpose of being protected by armed guards if the guards don't plan on carrying out the death penalty if need be?

When he dismisses his armed guards I might take him seriously. Until then I could care less what he thinks on this subject, and most subjects, for that matter.

Mike Lynn

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