Guillotine used in the United States
- Thread starter BigWillyG
- Start date
I think it is too bloody for them to consider (decapitation). It someone can convince the governors that it is humane, then it could be adopted.
It's been proposed. I think it was a Georgia politician who suggested its introduction, but I can't remember his name. For what it's worth, I think it's probably a more humane means of execution than lethal injection, although I admit this is just a guess.
I doubt we'd ever seriously consider it, though. Even though it kills so quickly that the subject probably doesn't suffer at all, it's gruesome, and therefore looks pretty awful. Lethal injection, on the other hand, isn't bloody or messy at all; it's so clean and tidy, in fact, that we can almost convince ourselves it's a medical procedure, rather than a means of putting someone to death. I think this antiseptic appearance makes execution easier for Americans to accept.
Also, the guillotine comes with political baggage. It was used by Nazi Germany, and during the Reign of Terror in revolutionary France, and I think if we adopted it we'd be imitating these cruel regimes. As I understand, the Nazis' use of lethal gas in the Holocaust caused us to stop using the gas chamber ourselves.
I doubt we'd ever seriously consider it, though. Even though it kills so quickly that the subject probably doesn't suffer at all, it's gruesome, and therefore looks pretty awful. Lethal injection, on the other hand, isn't bloody or messy at all; it's so clean and tidy, in fact, that we can almost convince ourselves it's a medical procedure, rather than a means of putting someone to death. I think this antiseptic appearance makes execution easier for Americans to accept.
Also, the guillotine comes with political baggage. It was used by Nazi Germany, and during the Reign of Terror in revolutionary France, and I think if we adopted it we'd be imitating these cruel regimes. As I understand, the Nazis' use of lethal gas in the Holocaust caused us to stop using the gas chamber ourselves.
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There would have to be several very well-publicized incidents of executions gone wrong and long with numerous types of execution.
At some point, an iconoclastic but respected public figure starts to insist that the guillotine is the only way that an instant death can be guaranteed.
At first, public discourse of this is leavened with misgivings.
Then a very very spectacular story of another botched execution with testimony from weeping witnesses hits the debate like a boulder into a puddle.
A number of prominent public figures conclude reluctantly that guillotines are one hundred percent reliable in the immediate cessation of the execution process department.
At some point, an iconoclastic but respected public figure starts to insist that the guillotine is the only way that an instant death can be guaranteed.
At first, public discourse of this is leavened with misgivings.
Then a very very spectacular story of another botched execution with testimony from weeping witnesses hits the debate like a boulder into a puddle.
A number of prominent public figures conclude reluctantly that guillotines are one hundred percent reliable in the immediate cessation of the execution process department.
Since this is the pre1900 thread, would that be a bonus when executions are still a public spectacle?
Remember people used to travel miles to see a hanging.
Anaxagoras
Banned
One wonders how many people today would tune in to watch if public executions by guillotine were broadcast on a specific cable channel?
Unfortunately, probably a good amount, considering the kind of stuff that already exists on the internet.
Would that happen though? I'm assuming it would be adopted well before the rise of the Third Reich, say 1880s/1890s when the electric chair started replacing hanging here or possibly even earlier. Also if France and Germany could still use it after the Terror the US probably still could.
If it is on a cable channel - even if it is subscription based - it will likely be much more socially acceptable, like HBO and soft core porn, than many things out there on the internet.
I think that it would not be adopted on constitutional grounds. It would be seen as cruel and unusual punishment. I've also heard that operating a guillitine properly is very tricky. You are still going to get botched executions.
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No it don't come with political bagage. The guillotine was used by France until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981. Also, equating Revolutionnary France and Nazi Germany is really insulting, as the French Terror was a way for a nation to survive a double civil war and a war against all the European continent. Remind me what the americans did to the japanese-americans in the early WWII ?
Why is a guillotine that tricky?
I think that the guillotine should be more humane than hanging (which is very tricky if you don't want the hanged to slowly strangle to death or to rip his head off completely). And it's at least on par with shooting or the electric chair. Ultimately, if the knife is sharp and heavy enough a guillotine is a simple mechanical device. It should work efficiently - and thus better than many other ways of capital punishment.
Imladrik, I didn't mean to insult you, or your country. Nor do I consider the campaigns of the French Revolutionary regime to be comparable to the Holocaust. My words were poorly chosen.
Most countries have done shameful things, my own included, and I won't pretend otherwise.
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I don't pretend to know, but I've heard that there were number of botched executions during the Terror and that the executioners sometimes had to adjust their guillotines on the fly.
boisdejustice mentions French Revolutionary era models having maintenance problems. Nothing about botched beheadings though.
I'm not so sure it's that much more Human than other methods, their have been since it was introduced stories of the head remaining conscious for a few seconds after, which is'nt that hard to believe when you consider the Guillotine being so quick it does'nt damages the brain and prevents immediate, rapid blood loss.
If I had to guess I'd say it could be troubles with rails so that blade didn't get enough speed when descending and didn't cut the head off completly.
Or blade wasn't sharp enough resulting in same.
We can't say that electrical chair, gaz chambers and the like are any more humane. At least the guillotine you die imediatly without pain.
If I was to be put to death and had a choice of all types of execution I would chose death by firing squad. After that death by lethal injection and then by gas. Deaths I would not want at all are decapitation (guilotine or not), hanging and electric chair. If I was sentenced to death by either of the last I would probably attack guards to make them shot me, or comit suicide.