A "Shot" In The Dark

The Supreme Court has ruled on a petition to decide whether or not lethal injection as a death penalty amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Lawyers for two death row inmates claim that the deadly cocktails injected are not always administered accurately, and that the result is that the condemned are not always unconscious, or unfeeling as the lethal (and presumably painful) drugs hit the system. There is a concern that those who have the responsibility to administer these things may not be properly trained. How exactly do you train to kill people properly??

The Court has rejected the suit, basically claiming that all manner of administering death is subject to human error, and carries the risk of discomfort to the condemned. Lethal injection is certainly no worse than other forms of capital punishment.

Firing squads do not always mean instant death. Bullets don't always react the same way upon impact. Every body's physiology is different.

Electrocution can be messy and inexact. Even the gallows have had their failures with the prime directive.

Didn't Dr. Jack have great success with his death contraption? Maybe he should teach instead of do! And don't we put thousands of animals painlessly to "sleep" every day? Or perhaps we are all under an illusion that this is always a peaceful and painless death?

All of this points to the idea that we are probably not really that well equipped to correctly put people to death. Is there a correct way? Should it be a surprise that this doesn't exactly come naturally to us? Oh well, if we are going to do it, better get on with it and quit trying to be so fussy about it.