question about firing squad

[kimba1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firing_squad

wiki said that in the past some has rifles has blank so that give the doubt that some men didn`t kill.
but isn`t there enough guys willing to do this job for free to not even bother with this? hell even the question of guilt isn`t even much of a factor

[Michael Tee]

I don't know how they select the members of the firing squad, but I'd expect they'd all have to be volunteers.  Some may volunteer out of a sense of civic duty without particularly relishing the idea of killing another human being, and in any event, the blank is a good idea in case the shooter later has second thoughts, repents, finds Jesus, etx.

[Stray Pooch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firing_squad

wiki said that in the past some has rifles has blank so that give the doubt that some men didn`t kill.
but isn`t there enough guys willing to do this job for free to not even bother with this? hell even the question of guilt isn`t even much of a factor

I suspect that this duty like many in the military - where it has been used extensively in the past - is a detail given out by a duty roster.  So if your name comes up and you are squeamish, you get the confort of knowing that you might be firing a non-lethal blow.  Also, what MT said makes sense about having second thoughts afterwards.  I must say, however, that if I were put in a position of having to kill a man and was not absolutely sure it was justified, I hope I would have the courage to refuse in spite of the consequence.  Frankly, having a 20 percent chance of my bullet being blank wouldn't be much of a comfort given the 80 percent chance that it wasn't.  And even if I was tipped off in advance, being part of the exercise would be IMO just as traumatic. 

[Christians4LessGvt]

I'd expect they'd all have to be volunteers.  Some may volunteer

Put me down as an enthusiastic volunteer for certain cases involving major league A-holes
like the repeat child molestor John Couey who abducted, held captive, raped, murdered,
the little nine year old girl Jessica Lunsford in Florida. When they found the child's body
two of her fingers had poked through the plastic bags he placed her in before throwing dirt
and leaves on her body indicating she had been buried alive before suffocating to death.
Yeah when I think about what that poor child went through with this A-hole put me down
as a volunteer and yep I would chuckle and laugh at the A-Hole before and while he croaked
just like those chopper pilots in Iraq! And after I laughed while executing this scum-bag I
would sit down once again and cry about this little girl.

[kimba1]

exactly what I mean by willing volunteer and i`ll even go as far about doubt of guilt is not a factor.

often i hear people not caring if the person is guilty in the radio and in water cooler talks.

[Christians4LessGvt]

i`ll even go as far about doubt of guilt is not a factor. often i hear people not caring
if the person is guilty in the radio and in water cooler talks.

well Kimba...that would be called insanity
if the person is not guilty why would anyone support executing them?

[Xavier_Onassis]

The whole idea about some of the members of the firing squad using blanks strikes me as dumb. If you don't want to actually kill someone, why volunteer? I would not ever propose a firing squad have anyone BUT volunteers, either. I know there are plenty of men who relish such a job. No reason to force some one to act against his own conscience.

Lethal injection is a superior method, because it is less barbarous. I really don't favor the death penalty, because the way we do it (executing the guy 10 to 20 years after the crime) is not a deterrent, generally being poor increases the likelihood of getting the death sentence more than the barbarity of the crime, and some states still do not do DNA tests even to prove innocence.

[Michael Tee]

<< . . . and some states still do not do DNA tests even to prove innocence.>>

That's outrageous.  Lemme guess - - one a those states is Mississippi, right?  And would another one be . . .  Alabama?  (Just a couple of educated guesses.)

[Amianthus]

That's outrageous.  Lemme guess - - one a those states is Mississippi, right?  And would another one be . . .  Alabama?  (Just a couple of educated guesses.)

Yup. And a few other of the deep south racist states like Indiana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Connecticut, etc.

[kimba1]

the part that makes DNA testing funny is it`s not always in a persons best interest to use it, quite afew confused people used it and it proved them guilty.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Yup. And a few other of the deep south racist states like Indiana,
Pennsylvania, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Connecticut, etc.

now ya gotta admit that was funny!

[Xavier_Onassis]

Texas does not require the use of DNA testing, either, and that is important, because Texas executes more people than any other.

I really do not care which states are Southern or Northern: I think that if there is a chance that DNA evidence can lead to a more accurate verdict, that it should be required to be used. Justice should always be as thorough as possible, after all.

 

[Christians4LessGvt]

Texas does not require the use of DNA testing, either, and that is important, because Texas executes more people than any other.
 I think that if there is a chance that DNA evidence can lead to a more accurate verdict, that it should be required to be used.
 Justice should always be as thorough as possible, after all.

I do not know the reasoning behind many states not requiring DNA, although I am sure those that support it will
argue some demonization reason....with that said DNA evidence is only available in a fraction of capital cases.

[Xavier_Onassis]

It does not matter what anyone says about it: the best evidence should always be used whenever available. If there is DNA evidence, it should be used. No one should be executed if there is DNA evidence that could prove them innocent.

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According to Pat Buchannon, Gary Gilmore and the latest execution by firing squad target were Mormons, and believed that one gets to heaven quicker is killed with a spilling of blood. Perhaps this is why Utah has kept a death penalty option: for devout, but repentant, Mormons.
He also said that death by hanging was for peasants, while death by bullet was a more noble way to go.

I am not sure of the Mormon bit, but the hanging vs firing squad bit sounds likely.

Still,  beheading, then drawing and quartering and sticking pieces of the executed all about the countryside, which was the way that William Wallace, who was a commoner, was dispatched, sounds pretty undignified.