Why blindfolded execution

A federal court in California found this method to be cruel and unusual punishment. For execution by this method, the condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. A long stethoscope is typically affixed to the inmate so that a doctor outside the chamber can pronounce death. Once everyone has left the chamber, the room is sealed. The warden then gives a signal to the executioner who flicks a lever that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail.

This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. Most prisoners, however, try to hold their breath, and some struggle. The inmate does not lose consciousness immediately. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool. Witnesses said he nodded his head for several minutes. About a half an hour later, orderlies enter the chamber, wearing gas masks and rubber gloves. As of April 17, , Oklahoma introduced death by nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection if the necessary drugs cannot be found or if that method is found unconstitutional.

Nitrogen is a naturally occurring gas in the atmosphere, and death would be caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, thereby depriving him or her of oxygen. On March 23, , firing squad was reauthorized in Utah as a viable method of execution if, and only if the state was unable to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out a lethal injection execution.

Prior to this reauthorization, firing squad was only a method of execution in Utah if chosen by an inmate before lethal injection became the sole means of execution. The most recent execution by this method was that of Ronnie Gardner. By his own choosing, Gardner was executed by firing squad in Utah on June 17, For execution by this method, the inmate is typically bound to a chair with leather straps across his waist and head, in front of an oval-shaped canvas wall.

Standing in an enclosure 20 feet away, five shooters are armed with. One of the shooters is given blank rounds. Each of the shooters aims his rifle through a slot in the canvas and fires at the inmate.

The person shot loses consciousness when shock causes a fall in the supply of blood to the brain. If the shooters miss the heart, by accident or intention, the prisoner bleeds to death slowly. Julie Bishop, the Australian foreign minister, said she had received a letter from her Indonesian counterpart that gave no indication President Joko Widodo would change his mind and grant the clemency requested by Australia.

Their six Australian co-conspirators were jailed for between 18 years and life in Indonesia. Only six people have been executed so far this year in Indonesia, which resumed capital punishment in , and the nine death sentences expected to be carried out today have been delayed for weeks due to a series of last-minute legal challenges.

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Recommended Indonesia executions loom - live blog Chan marries girlfriend in prison as friend paints Why can't Australia stop the executions?

Michael Chan, brother of Australian drug convict and death row prisoner Andrew Chan, arrives at Nusakambangan island on 28 April. The back of a painting by Australian death-row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran is shown, signed by the eight other condemned people. Already subscribed? The most dangerous are the souls of those who die a premature or a violent death, including death by execution, as they are reasonably believed to have the strongest reasons to seek revenge.

This makes the executioners particularly vulnerable and it is therefore only prudent for them to blindfold the victim and prevent the soul from identifying the individual responsible for the death. Another strategy was for the executioner to wear a mask and so avoid recognition — the classical executioners' costume in the past included a hood that fully covered the face.

Naturally, the executioners had many more earthly reasons to hide, fearing revenge from the victims relatives and followers. In addition, this anonymity through disguise may have protected them from the social stigma attached to their profession. The blindfold was but one strategy to protect the executioners and the onlookers from the supernatural revenge of those executed.