Capital Punishment, Moral Punishment

I favor hanging. It’s just gruesome enough, and, when done right, it involves a minimum of actual suffering. Its only disadvantage is that it takes some skill to do right.

A pistol shot to the back of the neck is not sufficiently gruesome, while the guillotine is too gruesome and may not always produce instant unconsciousness. Lethal injection is right out, as it manages to be not gruesome at all for observers while being sheer psychological torture for the convict on the gurney; fit only for dogs and other creatures who cannot understand the significance of the needle.

The firing squad might be an acceptable substitute for hanging in some cases, but I fear we’ve managed to attach far too much “honor” to it. Plus it’s not a guaranteed quick death.

It is also traditional, which weighs heavily in the balance.