HOSPICE AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

There is a lot of discussion about the cruel and unusual punishment that is occurring with lethal injection in capital punishment.  The drug companies don't want their drugs used for it--bad advertising.  The people that have taken oaths to do no harm are avoiding participation.  The people willing to participate don't actually have a clue about what they are trying to do.  Where is Dr. Kevorkian when you need him?
In truth, people working in hospice will tell you that natural death is not all that pretty.  It isn't quick, and it is only as painless as you can make it without hurrying it along too much.  The description of the person gasping for breath  for almost 2 hours sounds pretty much like---death.  Inadequate respiratory effort caused by the mix of opiate and benzo--what everyone working with patients on that combination for a procedure knows to be aware of and ready to treat.  Hypoventilation leading to acidosis and death.  Guppy breathing.
Why, after years of using potassium to stop the heart, suddenly no one can figure out that is what is missing, not the barbituate but the actual chemical that causes death.  No pain medication or anxiolytic will cause death, they just depress respiratory centers in the brain.  A strong, healthy person can stay that way a good time---I've seen old and sick and dying people with respiratory acidosis during their active dying that maintained a heart beat and shallow, ineffective breathing for hours---and they were old and sick and dying.  Why would we expect that drugs that do not stop the heart, merely depress the respiratory centers, to cause a younger, basically healthy person that is also sporting a healthy dose of adrenaline to just lay down and die in a short and inoffensive timeframe.
Perhaps the question we need to be asking is not about what is cruel and unusual punishment; perhaps the questions we should be asking are about the court systems in our country.  We have DNA evidence of executed inmates that whose DNA didn't match the crime scene.  We have Police officers that are willing to bet on their own gut feelings by planting evidence to ensure convictions, we have juries that ignore the evidence or are chosen for their inability to think clearly as it makes them easier for the lawyers to sway.  We also have crimes so horrendous that the jurors can only think of revenge, and can't separate their own need to punish someone from the job of deciding if that is the person on trial.
None of the problems are intentional and in fact our court systems, with their checks and balances, rules of protections, and use of a jury of our peers was all intended to remove the problem of a king or his representative passed judgement with whatever evidence and however ruthlessly suited him that day.  A person that shot a rabbit in the King's forest could be executed, or maimed, or sent away from his family to labor in one of the King's colonies--colonies always had plenty of labor needs, and criminals were a good source of free labor.
So, our constitution improved upon the previous laws, but then we set about turning it into a game, a game of chess, a game of politics, and game made up of powerful people and powerless people--guess who always loses?
The following is a list of people with considerable doubt raised posthumously as to their guilt.  I'm sure they all feel much better about their executions knowing someone actually questioned their innocencs.

Carlos DeLuna Texas Conviction: 1983, Executed: 1989
Ruben Cantu Texas Convicted: 1985, Executed: 1993
Larry Griffin Missouri Conviction: 1981, Executed: 1995
Joseph O'Dell Virginia Conviction: 1986, Executed: 1997
David Spence Texas Conviction: 1984, Executed: 1997
Leo Jones Florida Convicted: 1981, Executed: 1998
Gary Graham Texas Convicted: 1981, Executed: 2000,
Claude Jones Texas Convicted 1989, Executed 2000
Cameron Willingham Texas Convicted: 1992, Executed: 2004

Troy Davis   Georgia   Convicted 1991  Executed 2011

The links should take you to more detailed information.  (and this is only a small number of them, and reality is, many more than this have maintained their innocence till the time of death but no one backtracked to check it out.  It is interesting to note that half of these are people of color.  Half of these occurred in Texas, All of them occurred in southern states.  

In each case, only those witnesses that made the case were used, those that said it wasn't him were not invited to testify, several police officers either recanted or were later removed from uniform for unethical methods of getting confessions--and yes, we have known for a very long time that hurting someone will make them say whatever you want them to say.  Several had evidence that was not pursued once the prosecution decided it had enough to win a case.  All focused on one suspect to the exclusion of others once a suspect was identified.  In once case, an arson, later examination revealed that, just like the convicted said, the fire was not purposefully set---the conclusions of the investigator were wrong and no arson occurred.

People can be wrong, it happens, we have all been wrong and we have all had to apologize to someone for something at some time.  But the executed do not forgive us.  They can't.  They're dead.

What is the problem?  Our legal system has forgotten its purpose.  We have lost our humanity and our justice system has lost its credibility.  The people investigating are pressured to provide a high solve rate.  The Heads of the police are pressured to make the current local politico's look good, to make them look like they are "tough on crime".  The District attorneys are elected officials and need the votes so their conviction rate is more important than anything else.  We have 3rd party jails and prisons that like a full plate---more prisoners equals more money, and death row is special, more guards, more money, more everything.  The victims' loved ones want someone to pay.  There is never a lack of people being accused that can bargain at witnessing someone else's guilt in exchange for time off their own sentence.  

To make everyone happy--a conviction is needed.  The family of the victim can start healing, the community quits fearing a killer in their midst, the police look smart and dedicated, always good PR, the prosecuter ensures his numbers in the next election, the Mayor looks like he is all about the helping the community attract more  ______(insert business, jobs, tourism, money---chose the latest mayoral buzzword) and thus help everyone living there, and the corporate topdogs get their bonuses for having a full jail/prison)

The only person not happy is the person that gets executed, the person that didn't do that particular crime, the person that may not have committed any crime, the person that ceases to exist in the name of a lie.

That is the problem with capital punishment.  If they did not do it with a camera running and with a full disclosure of what led to the crime (I do think that anyone can be pushed to kill--ask anyone that has lived in a condition of war for protracted lengths of time, and  some marriages or communities might qualify as war zones) then how can we kill them for it.  How can we ever close that book so permanently.  I think that the time of capital punishment is over.  We all die but making people kill innocent people as part of their job is inhuman.  The guilt, what do those executioners do with that.  What do they do with it when they know beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are guilty.  I think I don't trust a person that could be executioner without any remorse.  That person may be scarier than the person they are killing.  Its time to come up with another plan.  Dahmier lasted 2 years after his conviction--no death row, just general population.  General population has always been a scarey world.  I wish our guards weren't part of the problem, but the cost of death row, both in money and in soulessness, is too much.  Time to call an end to it.  Time to stop the game.