Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Death Penalty question

This is topic Death Penalty question in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :

Just need some info for a story.

When they lethally inject somebody in the US, what is the process? Also, what chemicals are used?

I just need the basics for the story that I'm writing!

Thanks,
Ronnie

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

If you google "lethal injection" this is the very first link:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/lethal-injection.htm

Once I'd exhausted readily-available web resources, I'd call prisons where lethal injection is administered (which I would find through more diligent googling). I would also contact one or more anti-death penalty advocacy group, on the theory that those groups will be a) eager to talk to me and b) chock full of vivid details that I might not get from official prison sources.

btw "how stuff works" cracks me up. the list of "frequent searches" on the right listed the top three as: bounty hunting, creationism, and dreams. what's not to love?

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Yeah...it varies a lot from state to state and from year to year.

For lethal injection, they tie you down to a "table" (usually more of an articulated reclining chair) and have a couple of doctors give you injections. Only one injection contains the lethal agent, which could be just about any sedative. That's the basics (I don't know why they use doctors, it seems rather hypocritic). Execution rooms usually have an observation window so the witnesses can see without getting in the way. Lethal injection rooms have a decidedly...disinfectable design. I don't know why.

But details vary even from one facility to the next.

Posted by Grimslade (Member # 3173) on :

The irony of the doctor swabbing the injection site with alcohol before administering the lethal dose always throws me.
The excution rooms are not designed for disinfectability as much as easy cleanup for the living participants. Death is a messy process.

Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :

Thanks.

I would have googled it, but I posted at work and the filter blocked the search string.

Thanks again!

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

quote:
For lethal injection, they tie you down to a "table" (usually more of an articulated reclining chair) and have a couple of doctors give you injections.

Depending on the state, they might not be doctors. Some places, the only doctor present is the one to confirm the condemned is actually dead.

California recently had to delay an execution because none of the doctors present would sedate the condemned. California recently decided it might be inhumane to inject someone with a lethal injection since it might be painful. So the judge ordered the condemned to be put to sleep before the injection. The doctors decided that their oaths prevented them from preparing someone for iminint execution. Since they couldnt put the guy to sleep they had to stay the execution.

Posted by Matt Lust (Member # 3031) on :

Also its usually not a sedative.

The Califorina method is a three part with 1 being a sedative and the next two being a cocktial that stops your heart.

Which is why no doctors could be found. Apparently ethically its one thing to overdose someone but quite another to outright purposely stop a person's heart.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Doctors are dumb.