Most people don’t know that the death penalty is usually executed in the morning, and the sooner the better, but this is not to get the prisoner to die in a hurry, but for a kind of humanity towards the prisoner.
When a person’s life is pushed to an end by legal procedures, how is the last moment spent?We always thought that the process of ending life must be cold and merciless, but looking closely, found it full of contradictions.
Those seemingly "human" arrangements, such as early morning executions to reduce pain or allowing last words to be left, are actually tightly entwined with efficient administration and unquestionable state control.
The early morning is often a sign of the end, the execution time is set in the morning, the most common saying is that for humanitarian reasons, from the moment when the date is told, every second of waiting for the death penalty is a torture, that fear of death, many times better than waiting for the process of death to torture people.
Extreme mental pressure can even cause the body to lose control and completely collapse emotions. Crying or rage is the norm, so letting all this end early seems to be a kind of mercy and a way to help them escape.
But the morning execution, also means that the follow-up of all procedures can be completed on the same day, body inspection, fire, official document cover, a set of processes down, do not delay anyone's leave of work time, if delayed to the evening, a lot of things have to do the next day.
Humanitarian considerations relieving the suffering of prisoners, and the need for efficient and closed-circle management pursued by the judiciary, are perfectly matched here, and the so-called "humanization" has just opened the green light for institutional convenience.
The prisoner has the right to leave the last word, which sounds like a recognition of a person’s ultimate dignity, but the right to speak is strictly disciplined, and the will is usually not written by the prisoner himself, but is recorded by the “copywriter.”
There are two reasons for this. One is that some prisoners are not well educated and can't write, but more importantly, safety. A pen, in the hands of desperate people, may become a tool to hurt themselves.
This gave rise to a huge paradox: the state would immediately legally deprive him of his life, but at the last moment, with all his minds, stop him from hurting himself, behind which was an absolute logic of control, life can only be ended by the law, and any "out of control" act, even of himself to himself, is not permitted.
The last “voice” of the prisoner was preserved, but the way in which he spoke was firmly controlled, the pen, both as a symbol of humanity and clearly as an instrument of power.
A former prisoner once served as such a ghostwriter. This experience completely subverted his understanding of condemned prisoners. He thought that everyone who committed heinous crimes should look fierce, but after coming into contact, he discovered that they looked no different from ordinary people. Some of them were even in their early twenties, and their lives had not really begun. He felt that these people were essentially ordinary people, but they were only controlled by their inner impulses and evil thoughts that led to a dead end.
The experience of the pen leads him to see that most death prisoners, when life really enters the reverse count, suddenly realize the weight and value of life, unfortunately, when they finally have fear of life, everything is late, there is no way back.
Therefore, the end of the death penalty is a scene full of contradictions. The efficiently running "clock", the tightly controlled "pen tip", and the crime and punishment reflected on "ordinary people" are intertwined into a complex picture. Those so-called "humane" measures are more like a sophisticated management philosophy that while maintaining procedures and authority, they also try to smooth out the most acute moral conflicts.
The logic of the system and the fragility of human nature are intertwined. What we see is not only the end of a criminal, but also a heavy question about control, dignity and life.
When a person’s life is pushed to an end by legal procedures, how is the last moment spent?We always thought that the process of ending life must be cold and merciless, but looking closely, found it full of contradictions.
Those seemingly "human" arrangements, such as early morning executions to reduce pain or allowing last words to be left, are actually tightly entwined with efficient administration and unquestionable state control.
The early morning is often a sign of the end, the execution time is set in the morning, the most common saying is that for humanitarian reasons, from the moment when the date is told, every second of waiting for the death penalty is a torture, that fear of death, many times better than waiting for the process of death to torture people.
Extreme mental pressure can even cause the body to lose control and completely collapse emotions. Crying or rage is the norm, so letting all this end early seems to be a kind of mercy and a way to help them escape.
But the morning execution, also means that the follow-up of all procedures can be completed on the same day, body inspection, fire, official document cover, a set of processes down, do not delay anyone's leave of work time, if delayed to the evening, a lot of things have to do the next day.
Humanitarian considerations relieving the suffering of prisoners, and the need for efficient and closed-circle management pursued by the judiciary, are perfectly matched here, and the so-called "humanization" has just opened the green light for institutional convenience.
The prisoner has the right to leave the last word, which sounds like a recognition of a person’s ultimate dignity, but the right to speak is strictly disciplined, and the will is usually not written by the prisoner himself, but is recorded by the “copywriter.”
There are two reasons for this. One is that some prisoners are not well educated and can't write, but more importantly, safety. A pen, in the hands of desperate people, may become a tool to hurt themselves.
This gave rise to a huge paradox: the state would immediately legally deprive him of his life, but at the last moment, with all his minds, stop him from hurting himself, behind which was an absolute logic of control, life can only be ended by the law, and any "out of control" act, even of himself to himself, is not permitted.
The last “voice” of the prisoner was preserved, but the way in which he spoke was firmly controlled, the pen, both as a symbol of humanity and clearly as an instrument of power.
A former prisoner once served as such a ghostwriter. This experience completely subverted his understanding of condemned prisoners. He thought that everyone who committed heinous crimes should look fierce, but after coming into contact, he discovered that they looked no different from ordinary people. Some of them were even in their early twenties, and their lives had not really begun. He felt that these people were essentially ordinary people, but they were only controlled by their inner impulses and evil thoughts that led to a dead end.
The experience of the pen leads him to see that most death prisoners, when life really enters the reverse count, suddenly realize the weight and value of life, unfortunately, when they finally have fear of life, everything is late, there is no way back.
Therefore, the end of the death penalty is a scene full of contradictions. The efficiently running "clock", the tightly controlled "pen tip", and the crime and punishment reflected on "ordinary people" are intertwined into a complex picture. Those so-called "humane" measures are more like a sophisticated management philosophy that while maintaining procedures and authority, they also try to smooth out the most acute moral conflicts.
The logic of the system and the fragility of human nature are intertwined. What we see is not only the end of a criminal, but also a heavy question about control, dignity and life.