>On 4/27/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>> [hanging people from a crane so they take 10 minutes to choke to
>> death...lovely]
>
>It's atrocious. But, if I may add to that obvious assertion one
>further: death from electrocution can take as long (say if the heart
>is still beating five minutes after the first shock has been
>administered, they'll go ahead and have another go), and being fried
>isn't necessarily easier on the senses. I don't know if lethal
>injection is any better come to that, what with the prolonged
>armageddon of lungs collapsing and heart stopping...
Though I do not oppose capital punishment in theory (where it would be a real deterrent, as, for example, against counterrevolutionary crimes when the expectation of a White Guard victory renders any civilized punishment of no dissuasive value--see Marx's comments on the Commune's execution of the Archbishop of Paris) I agree that, as practiced everywhere without exception nowadays, it is a disgusting and barbaric institution. Nevertheless, when it comes to methods of execution, by far and away the least painful and degrading method is that invented well over two centuries ago by Dr. Guillotin.
Shane Mage
"Show my head to the crowd, executioner--it will be well worth the trouble."--Danton