U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

[nitroglycol]

The US is so broke they're having to cut back on one of their most cherished traditions:

The United States executed fewer people this year, in part because there is a shortage of the drug used in lethal injections and because executions are too expensive in tough economic times, a report released Tuesday said. The Death Penalty Information Center said in its annual report that executions decreased 12 percent this year and new death sentences stayed near the lowest level since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

From the London Free Press.

[flintlock]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

Then why don't they just use one of these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision-guided_munition

They always seem to have plenty of money for those.

[touchring]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

This doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it cost much more to maintain these people in jail?

[don]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

The US is so broke they're having to cut back on one of their most cherished traditions.

Cherished Tradition?

True Grit (2010)

Wearing Braids, Seeking Revenge

By MANOHLA DARGIS

That old-time American religion of vengeance runs like a river through “True Grit,” a comic-serious tale about some nasty, brutish times. Beautifully adapted by Joel and Ethan Coen from the parodic western novel by Charles Portis, it turns on a 14-year-old Arkansas girl who hires a “one-eyed fat man” to hunt down her father’s killer. First published in 1968, Mr. Portis’s tall tale was brought to the screen the next year custom-fitted for John Wayne, who rode the role of that fat man, Rooster Cogburn, straight to an Oscar. Now it’s the thinner scene-stealer Jeff Bridges who sits and sometimes drunkenly slumps in the saddle.

Much as he did in the raucously entertaining original film directed by Henry Hathaway, Rooster enters on his best behavior, seated in a courtroom amid a fog of cigar smoke and conspicuous lies. The pale, ghostly light comes courtesy of the Coens’ frequent cinematographer, Roger Deakins, while many of the twisty, funny sentences have been plucked by the filmmakers right from the novel. A deputy United States marshal, Rooster has attracted the interest of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld, in a terrific film debut), a half-pint who, with her bloodlust and severely braided hair, is an authentic American Gothic. As she listens to Rooster recount his bloody deeds and high body count, her eyes shine with a true believer’s excitement.

Avenging her father and keeping close track of her family’s expenses are what preoccupy Mattie, a richly conceived and written eccentric, as memorable on the page as she is now on screen. Softened for the first film (in which she was played by a 21-year-old Kim Darby, in a bob), she has been toughed up again by the Coens so that she resembles the seemingly humorless if often unintentionally humorous Scripture-quoting martinet of Mr. Portis’s imagination.

At times she brings to mind D. H. Lawrence’s famed formulation that “the essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer.”

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/12/22...2true.html?hpw

[nitroglycol]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

This doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it cost much more to maintain these people in jail?

You'd think so, but apparently not. The thing is, the death penalty creates requirements for a lot more appeals, legal aid, etc, in order to keep the number of wrongful executions down to a level acceptable to the public. Just ensuring that the accused has proper legal representation until all appeals are exhausted will cost an arm and a leg, for instance.

[Serge_Tomiko]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

The US is so broke they're having to cut back on one of their most cherished traditions:

From the London Free Press.

I always assumed they simply gave lethal doses of morphine. How expensive can the stuff be?

Of course, the report in its entirety is obviously nonsense written by a moron. Imprisoning people is a luxury only advanced societies can afford. When times are really tough, execution and banishment are the only affordable options.

There are only a few major changes coming to the US that are certain, but a big one is the legalization of intoxicants. We will likely see the legalization of prostitution as well.

When things get much worse, executions probably will become too expensive because it will incite fear and further disorder amongst low-iq groups prone to violence. The most probable course of action will be to relocate them all to a large geographic region where they can fend for themselves, sort of like an indian reservation. Maybe Arkansas, or even Cuba.

[nitroglycol]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

Funny you should mention banishment. A while back I came across this story about proposed missions to Mars. What leaped out at me was this:

Worden's comments prompted speculation that trips to Mars could be only 20 years away. Commentators talked about the difficulties of such a trip because of the cost, estimated at $10 billion US one-way, and the likelihood that the explorers would not be able to ever return to Earth.

My bold. Ever read D. G. Compton's Farewell, Earth's Bliss? While I don't advocate this, I suspect that many will think it's a good idea.

And regarding the means of lethal injection, it's a little more complex than that (a barbiturate, a muscle relaxant, followed by KCl to stop the heart) but as noted upthread, the biggest expense in having the death penalty is the necessary safeguards to minimize the number of wrongful executions.

[don]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

I am dead set against giving the state the right to kill us.

Once given, they are free to add and expand their capital conviction list.

One man's convenience store stickup is another man's moral hazard.

Law in America is based on power and class.

Are there slime balls that will always be a lethal threat to society. In short, totally f**king useless?

Absolutely.

I would rather incarcerate them forever - a short trial, throw away the key - then surrender a life and death prerogative to the state.

[Jay]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

I always assumed they simply gave lethal doses of morphine. How expensive can the stuff be?

Of course, the report in its entirety is obviously nonsense written by a moron. Imprisoning people is a luxury only advanced societies can afford. When times are really tough, execution and banishment are the only affordable options.

There are only a few major changes coming to the US that are certain, but a big one is the legalization of intoxicants. We will likely see the legalization of prostitution as well.

When things get much worse, executions probably will become too expensive because it will incite fear and further disorder amongst low-iq groups prone to violence. The most probable course of action will be to relocate them all to a large geographic region where they can fend for themselves, sort of like an indian reservation. Maybe Arkansas, or even Cuba.

Why not New York City?

[touchring]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

Imprisoning people is a luxury only advanced societies can afford. When times are really tough, execution and banishment are the only affordable options.

This is really the concept practiced in Singapore, it costs too much to imprison people for too long.

The list of executable offenses.

* Waging or attempting to wage war or abetting the waging of war against the Government*
* Offences against the President’s person (in other words, treason)
* Mutiny
* Piracy that endangers life
* Perjury that results in the execution of an innocent person
* Murder
* Abetting the suicide of a person under the age of 18 or an "insane" person
* Attempted murder by a prisoner serving a life sentence
* Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder
* Robbery committed by five or more people that results in the death of a person
* Drug trafficking
* Unlawful discharge of firearms (firearms are heavily restricted in the city)

* (a) 100 grammes of opium;
* (b) 3 grammes of morphine;
* (c) 2 grammes of heroin;
* (d) 15 grammes of cannabis;
* (e) 30 grammes of cannabis mixture;
* (f) 10 grammes of cannabis resin;
* (g) 3 grammes of cocaine;
* (h) 25 grammes of methamphetamine;
* (i) 113 grammes of ketamine; or
* (j) 10 grammes of any or any combination of the following:
* (j1) N, ?-dimethyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine;
* (j2) ?-methyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine; or
* (j3) N-ethyl-??methyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital...t_in_Singapore

[Serge_Tomiko]

Re: U.S. executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

Why not New York City?

We'll need room for at least 40 million. Perhaps more. I don't think that work out to well here. Although, I wouldn't mind turning the island into a permanent prison for some of those banker types with a penchant for usury.