WARNING: Gruesome discussion follows.

At least, I guess discussions of how to kill people are gruesome to some people. I suspect that that a few readers, though, might come here because of occasional discussions of gruesome things. (In fact, a commenter to my previous post on lethal injection mentioned the "Classical Values Torture poll.")

The Supreme Court just ruled 7-2 that lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment, notwithstanding the risk that the procedure (known as "protocols") might not be carried out correctly. That the prisoner might suffer is considered part of the punishment.

What that means is that for now, the death penalty remains. That's a good result for people (including myself) who support the death penalty, but I don't think it will stop the endless bickering over whether the procedure is humane. There will continue to be problems, and I think that's because the statutes require "intravenous injection" of certain fatal drugs, but the laws do not contemplate the difficulty of finding a vein and establishing and maintaining a good rate of flow. (Kentucky law in question calls for "continuous intravenous injection of a substance or combination of substances sufficient to cause death.")

I found the legal links at Ann Althouse's discussion of the case, and I notice that her very first commenter proposes Nitrogen asphyxiation as a form of humane death.

For that matter, the same nitrous oxide ("laughing gas") that dentists use is inert, inexpensive, and (unlike some of the explosive gases used by anesthetists) quite safe to administer. Lots of stupid people have accidentally killed themselves getting high with the stuff; why not use it deliberately?

If the goal is humane elimination of human life, I'd say it's another good idea.

Another commenter pointed out that vets use Pentathol only:

Vets use only one chemical ; it seems peaceful enough.

Is the dog perhaps conscious and struggling to breathe for 30 seconds, unknown to everybody? It would have come up. People love their dogs.

I suppose you could brain-scan and look for panic activity.

Somebody holds the dog down in case it's not peaceful, so maybe everybody isn't so lucky. Still, it's likely to be the best that can be done, on the average.

An overdose of sedative sounds foolproof to me, but for dogs anyway you don't want it to drag out over many appointment slots.

There is absolutely no reason why putting a man to death should be any more complicated than putting a dog to death. Considering ubiquitously available technology, there is no logical reason why there need be any infliction of pain.

I think there's an unacknowledged desire in some quarters among death penalty proponents to do more than merely cause the condemned person to die, and it may be rooted in the desire to inflict further punishment.

The idea of humane death being rendered inhumane because of human incompetence never should have become an issue in the first place. Don't get me started on how or why the government is incapable of doing what even the most mediocre veterinary assistant could do; I wrote a post, and people seem to have missed my point, which is that capital punishment can be made less vulnerable to these endless legal challenges by making it absolutely painless.

These gruesome torture rape murders in Tennessee (which I posted about extensively and about which Glenn Reynolds posted the update about last week) are a perfect example of why the death penalty ought to be rendered legally unassailable in that regard. Tennessee's legal wranglings over the procedure are so typical, yet so unnecessary. I want awful people like that dead; I don't want lawyers supplied with a single legitimate argument about why the lethal injections might be botched and might cause pain when that can be avoided entirely.

Any vet tech can kill these people painlessly, quickly, and efficiently.

The law should not require "intravenous injection" from start to finish; a simple initial injection of a sedative (or admininstration of nitrous oxide gas) to the point of unconsciousness, to be followed by the IV infusion of a massive dose of Pentathol would be fine, and completely painless.

If the goal is to humanely get them off the earth, why not use the most efficient and humane means to that end?