Could the firing squad in Idaho backfire against the death penalty? | Opinion
Idaho could become the only state in the nation to have a firing squad as the primary method of execution.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little will have before him House Bill 37, which passed both the House and Senate, mostly along party lines, with veto-proof supermajorities.
As of late Friday afternoon, Little’s office hadn’t received the bill yet. When he does get it, he’ll have five days from the time he receives it to sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a South Carolina man convicted of murder was executed by firing squad, the first U.S. prisoner to die by that method in 15 years, according to The Associated Press. He chose the firing squad over electric chair and lethal injection, because in that state, the prisoner gets to choose.
For what it’s worth, I’m still on the fence about the death penalty, primarily thinking that if someone brutally murdered one of my family members, my wife or my children, I would probably want the option of the death penalty.
When I think of people like serial killer and child molester Joseph Duncan, who kidnapped and killed members of the Groene family in 2005 in Coeur d’Alene in the most despicable and disgusting circumstances, I have less of a problem with the death penalty.
It seems to me, though, that there are fewer people who are on the fence like I am.
Usually, what I hear is that someone is strongly in favor of the death penalty or is strongly against the death penalty.
In those cases, then, the manner of death probably means little to either side.
If you oppose the death penalty, it doesn’t matter what the method is. Killing someone is killing someone.
“For us, it’s not about how we kill our prisoners,” said Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, said in a press release. “The concern we have is that we allow our government to conduct executions at all when the capital punishment system is so costly, discriminatory, inaccurate and disproportionately used.”
On the other side, if you support the death penalty, you just want to get it done, whether by gun, by injection, by hanging, whatever.
There are arguments to be made — and have been made — that the firing squad is more humane.
Indeed, studies have shown that instances of “botched” executions by firing squad are nonexistent in modern times, while botched lethal injections are numerous.
Sen. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, the bill’s co-sponsor, said that shooting prisoners to death is “more humane.”
Perhaps, but that’s like making the argument that getting hit by a train is more humane than drowning.
Both are horrific, but framing one as “better” than the other ignores the underlying brutality of putting someone to death.
Execution by firing squad in Idaho might backfire, if you’ll excuse the pun.
Maybe most people just don’t think about it much, but an execution by firing squad might get them thinking about it.
Shooting someone is just more visibly violent than giving someone an IV and pushing the plunger on a syringe.
People like me who are on the fence might say that’s the last straw and go over to the side of no death penalty.
The firing squad bill also got me thinking about being a media witness.
I’ve signed up twice now as a media witness to Thomas Creech’s execution, and watched the failed attempts to establish an IV, resulting in the cancellation of his execution.
But what if Little signs the firing squad bill into law, and Idaho begins executing people by shooting them? Would I be able to watch someone getting shot to death?
“The state of Idaho is on the verge of making a big mistake — a very big mistake,” Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Viola, a military combat veteran and retired police officer, said in opposing the bill. “I can say that, because I’ve seen it. I wished I hadn’t seen it. … The consequences of a botched firing squad execution are more graphic, more mentally, psychologically devastating than any botched attempt with a lethal drug.”
He called the firing squad “anything but humane.”
“I think it’s horrendous,” Randy Gardner, the brother of the last man in Utah executed by firing squad, told The Associated Press. “I think it’s very barbaric. I didn’t witness my brother’s execution, but I got to see his body after, I’ve got the autopsy photos of what it looked like, and it just mutilated my brother’s body. I think it’s terrible.”
Even though I don’t like the idea of witnessing a firing squad execution, I would probably still sign up to be a witness. Someone has to do it; I feel strongly about that. I have confidence that I’d be able to share with you what the experience was like.
I asked the readers of my Idaho Way newsletter this week what they thought, and I generally received one-side-or-the-other responses: Either they were for the death penalty or against it, and the method didn’t matter.
“I am against the death penalty in general, and think death by firing squad is an absurd and particularly brutal way in which to carry out such,” one reader wrote.
“The data does not show capital punishment to be fiscally responsible; since at least the 1990s it has been more expensive to execute someone than to incarcerate them for life,” another reader wrote. “Additionally, there is no support for punitive measures leading to less crime. ‘Get tough on crime’ slogan was an ideologically based construct which had no true relationship to crime rates or outcomes. Our approach to criminal justice is severely flawed. It will take an understanding of its history and a shift away from ideology in rule-making to make needed improvements. Therefore, I am staunchly against capital punishment.”
But that might not make it any easier for Little, who supports the death penalty, to decide whether or not to sign the bill mandating the firing squad.
I would suggest, though, that if Little is squeamish about the firing squad, perhaps he should be squeamish about the death penalty.
One reader made a suggestion that perhaps matches the situation.
“I have a proposal for the system by which the actual event should be conducted,” he wrote. “Since our Legislature is strongly in favor of the firing squad, three of the six persons firing at the condemned person should be legislators. This should be rotated among legislators, so everyone would eventually get a chance to serve. The other three members of the squad should be selected based on a citizen lottery. Tickets could be sold for a set amount (I’d suggest at least $100 per ticket) and the winning tickets should be drawn by the governor. Idahoans love their guns and also love law and order. This would give Idahoans a chance to actually enforce the law — and could also raise a fair bit of revenue for the state coffers. People might actually be flocking to purchase tickets.”
That’s certainly a dystopian view.
But maybe that’s where we’re headed.
