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If given a choice, would you rather be shot to death or poisoned?

If you’re anything like me, you’d take the lethal injection in a heartbeat. The thought of being strapped to a chair with a target on the back causes me to sweat.

A lethal injection seems much more humane compared to being a target dummy. After all, a needle is much less intimidating than a loaded gun.

Lethal injections were adopted by most states because they should provide a quick and painless death. However, the transition from theory and execution is rarely without its difficulties.

According to the BBC, three percent of the executions from 1890 to 2010 are botched.

Botched meaning “the executioners departed from official legal protocol or standard operating procedure – which can result in a prolonged or painful death,” according to Debbie Siegelbaum, a journalist at the BBC.

While three percent seems to be an insignificant and small number, that translates roughly to 270 cruel and painful executions of the nearly 9,000 leading into 2010.

While cruel and unusual death can be viewed as apt punishment for convicts who have committed a felony or felonies to warrant execution, it does not make the scene any less gruesome. A death is a death, any pleasure drawn in cruel and painful methods are drawn by the criminals those behind bars, not those seeking justice.

The BBC cites that of the 1,054 lethal injections recorded until 2010, seven percent were botched.

Lethal injection was originally adopted as a more humane and safe way to execute convicts due to cries of cruelty by many about electrocution.

However, of the 4,374 electrocutions, 1.9 percent were botched. Although there have been over four times the number of electrocutions as opposed to lethal injection, the number of executions botched by each are not far off.

About 83 electrocutions have gone haywire compared to 76 not-so-lethal injections. The reason for such a high botch rate of lethal injections is the process itself.

Created by Dr. Jay Chapman as a more humane alternative to electrocutions and firing squads, the current three drug combination first lowers the subject’s senses with a barbiturate, and two drugs to induce paralysis and halt the heart’s beating are subsequently injected.

While well thought out, the theory has not performed well in executions.

“The potential pitfall in the original formula is this: If the barbiturate is not fully effective, perhaps because the dose is too low or the needle misplaced, the inmate may still be able to feel pain. If the paralyzing agent is then injected, the person will feel suffocated — but will be unable to move or cry out, and may even look peaceful. The potassium chloride will then cause an intense burning sensation, muscle cramping and chest pain,” said Denise Grady, a writer of The New York Times.

In theory, Chapman’s system should work. However, the execution is lacking.

Executioners are not trained doctors. While doctors do indeed work with the executioners, many have strayed away from performing the injections as it is against their oath to do no harm.

Thus, untrained hands are handling extremely volatile chemicals that if injected incorrectly can lead to a slow and painful death, exactly what Chapman was attempting to prevent.

Furthermore, drugs that were commonly used for lethal injections like sodium thiopental and pentobarbital are in short supply due to Europe’s refusal to sell them for that purpose.

As such, some states attempting to meet the execution deadline have mixed their own cocktails of death that violate the 8th Amendment.

Are the alternatives any better?

Like the lethal injection, each other methods of execution like hangings, electrocutions, and firing squads each possess their own flaws.

A hanging appears simple, but according to the Los Angeles Times, that’s not the case.

“Death on the gallows requires a precise drop distance,” said The Los Angeles Times. “If the drop is too short, the prisoner will die by strangulation. If the drop is too long, the head may be torn off.”

Not much needs to be said about the electric chair to illustrate its issues. Despite having a lower botch rate than lethal injections, being electrocuted definitely qualifies as a cruel and unusual punishment.

Another alternative is the gas chamber, but being suffocated is not much of an improvement upon being shocked to death.

Firing squads have not been implemented often as an execution method in America, but it does hold its merits.

It should be impossible to not execute the convict quickly while strapped to a chair with several guns loaded behind the subject.

Although, the force does seem excessive. A bullet to the head would be much simpler.

So is a lethal injection still the most humane?

Yes, if done properly.

“In later years, Dr. Chapman said that if he had it to do over again, he would probably recommend using just a barbiturate, and omit the paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs. But his protocol has lingered,” Grady said.

However, until the standards for a lethal injection are changed, that is not the case.

All forms of executions are inhumane by the nature of the act. Taking a life is rarely humane. And there may not be a “better choice”-

But, if given a choice, load the gun and aim for the head.

Correction:April 1, 2015 On March 26, the PCC Courier ran an article about capital punishment, “Shoot me: Why the bullet is more humane” by Alex Chhuon wrongly attributed Raoul Ranoa as a written source due to negligence and carelessness when Ranoa is the senior graphics and data journalist with the RealTime news desk at The Los Angeles Times.

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