There’s a debate going on right now regarding the lethal injections most states use to administer executions. The Supreme Court is hearing a case brought by two men on death row claiming that the methods used are cruel and unusual and therefore prohibited by the 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution. In other words, this case will decide how much pain is acceptable during an execution. Current lethal injection methods, if administered properly, cause little, if any, pain. Administered poorly, however, and there is a risk of severe pain.
At the risk of sounding incredibly callous, I fail to see what’s wrong with pain during an execution, especially when it comes to cold-blooded murderers, such as the very men bringing this case to the Supreme Court. One shot and killed a sheriff and wounded his deputy while they were trying to arrest him. Then, as the deputy lay face down and wounded, the man shot him point-blank in the back of the head. The other man murdered a couple and wounded their infant child in front of the laundry business they ran. No apparent motive has been determined.
Do such monsters really deserve painless executions? Hell, do they even deserve a say in how they die? I know my thoughts on prison and capital punishment are quite unorthodox, so I’m not expecting anyone to agree with me. But friendly debate is encouraged.
You can read about the case at MSNBC. If you’re a conservative, you may prefer Fox News. That is, if you can even find the story there. They seem to be focusing on more important things, like Roger Clemens and Mike Huckabee’s non-existent shot at the GOP presidential nomination.
