47 minutes of pain

[Broomstick]

Nowhere in the US are there sufficient numbers of executions to make it even a part time job. Therefore, it's never someone's primary job, it's always some addition to their normal duties. I'm not sure, under those circumstances, you can say someone "chooses" it as a profession. How the prison staff who become executioners are chosen I don't know, it probably varies by location anyway.

[LaCroix]

it is supremely hypocritical to cause suffering to the guy who carries out a sentence that frankly, he had no role in deciding.

Hm...

perhaps?

There would be a lot more life sentences if the judge were to be held to this principle.

[mr friendly guy]

Question, are people forced randomly to become executioners or is this a trade by choice? Your whole spiel falls apart if it's the latter.

Well actually in some countries people who are pro DP do have a regular job hanging people and yes they do accept the responsibility.

Take for example the funny Darshan Singh from Singapore

In the media interview, Mr Singh insisted that no one else in Singapore was trained to carry out the execution, and that an inexperienced hangman could make mistakes. "With me, (the prisoners) don't struggle," he said. If (the executioner is) a raw guy, they will struggle like chickens, like fish out of the water."

Hilarious.

[Broomstick]

Also true - there is, apparently, both an art and a science to obtaining what is known as a "clean hang" where the victim's neck is snapped and death comes quickly, as opposed to death by suffocation or decapitation. All sorts of stuff about the length and thickness of rope compared to the weight of the condemned, preparation of the rope, length of the drop, and so forth.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Question, are people forced randomly to become executioners or is this a trade by choice? Your whole spiel falls apart if it's the latter.

No. They are prison guards. Just...prison guards. How they get selected for that particular duty varies jurisdiction by jurisdiction.

It also does not fall apart at all. Even if there was a professional executioner, or prison guards who volunteered for it (rather than being volunteered), it is irrelevant. Someone has to do the job. The existence of that job is mandated by our social contract for as long as we continue to have the death penalty, and the people who do it are civil servants. To claim we owe them nothing, and ought punish them with psychological torment over and above what is created by the mere existence of that job, makes you a pile of shit.

What you are proposing is logically identical to refusing to have any care for the psychological well-being of soldiers, because you oppose war, and they did afterall choose to serve their communities in that particular way. It is fucking repugnant.

[General Zod]

There would be a lot more life sentences if the judge were to be held to this principle.

Either the judge or the district attorney; the problem is that by the time the execution day gets there the judge or DA could be retired.

[Lagmonster]

How are death sentences arrived at in the US? Does it fall upon the sole determination of a judge that a man deserves to die, or are judges required to issue death sentences for certain offenses? I've heard of mandatory sentencing elsewhere, frequently.

[Broomstick]

Sentence of death is never mandatory, life without parole is always an option.

I'm not entirely clear if it's the judge or the jury that decides... and as so often happens with the US, it probably varies by state or if it's being tried in the Federal or military courts.

[General Zod]

How are death sentences arrived at in the US? Does it fall upon the sole determination of a judge that a man deserves to die, or are judges required to issue death sentences for certain offenses? I've heard of mandatory sentencing elsewhere, frequently.

Mandatory death sentences were abolished in 1976, but iirc the sentencing guidelines are on a state by state basis.

[Alyrium Denryle]

How are death sentences arrived at in the US? Does it fall upon the sole determination of a judge that a man deserves to die, or are judges required to issue death sentences for certain offenses? I've heard of mandatory sentencing elsewhere, frequently.

Applies to Most Jurisdictions.

Step 1. Commit Capital Murder--which is 1st degree murder with one or more aggravating circumstances (killing a cop, use of torture sometimes poison, killing children paired with rape etc etc etc. Jurisdictions vary), usually. Sometimes just 1st degree murder

Step 2. Get caught

Step 3. DA decides to go for the death penalty. They must actively make this decision.

Step 4. Go to trial, prosecution victory

Step 5. Separate hearing with the same jury to decide if the crime warrants the death penalty, and if the convicted deserves to die.

Step 6. The appeals process

Step 7. Last minute chance for commutations, pardons and stays

Step 8. Death.

[PainRack]

Question, are people forced randomly to become executioners or is this a trade by choice? Your whole spiel falls apart if it's the latter.

Well actually in some countries people who are pro DP do have a regular job hanging people and yes they do accept the responsibility.

Take for example the funny Darshan Singh from Singapore

In the media interview, Mr Singh insisted that no one else in Singapore was trained to carry out the execution, and that an inexperienced hangman could make mistakes. "With me, (the prisoners) don't struggle," he said. If (the executioner is) a raw guy, they will struggle like chickens, like fish out of the water."

Hilarious.

Unless the intervening 10 years has changed Darhann Singh, his statement is probably taken out of context. That, or he's just a very lousy interviewee.

He was interviewed previously for his views regarding capital punishment after Michael Fay vandalism(so sometime back in 1996 or so). His statements regarding capital punishment then was about how difficult it was to get new hirees for a executioner, due to the social mores. He highlighted how it was a pressing issue due to how inexperienced executioners would lead to botched hanging that worsened the suffering of the detainees and it was impossible to get experiencede xecutioners after his generation retire. You could sense the sympathy he had for the prisoners as well as his pride in his profession. Of course, through it all, you could sense his deep commitment to the death penalty(he explained it as being the reason why he remained in the industry even after junior executioners left after a few years)