tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post1940233134224977131..comments2024-01-25T14:51:13.377-05:00Comments on Gamso - For the Defense: Why Shoot When You Can Gnaw?Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-29670103678741336462013-08-25T21:11:29.747-04:002013-08-25T21:11:29.747-04:00You're asking what's really an empirical q...You're asking what's really an empirical question, but nobody's likely to bring back public executions anytime soon, so it'll really go unanswered. <br /><br />My guess, for what it's worth, is that public hangings wouldn't do much except draw a crowd. They used, after all, to do just that as people came from miles around for the show. Parties, celebrations, the 19th century version of tailgating. The pickpockets came, too, and made good money.<br /><br />Beheadings? Well, the spurting blood and flying heads would surely attract some and repulse some. There are, by the way, numerous (and some fairly credible) reports that heads chopped off at the guillotine often seemed alive and trying to speak for 10-15 seconds after. That might appall. But the result is more likely to convince the powers that be that executions should be moved back inside the prison walls - and again conducted in clinical rather than spectacular fashion.Jeff Gamsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-25757872474789540572013-08-25T01:59:08.321-04:002013-08-25T01:59:08.321-04:00I'm opposed to the death penalty because the &...I'm opposed to the death penalty because the "justice" system results in too many false convictions and I believe intentional killing in other than an immediate self-defense situation or genuine mistake is immoral.<br /><br />However, if we would have public hangings (like in the westerns) and public beheadings, maybe most of us would not be so quick to desire to put someone to death. Does anyone agree or disagree? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com