American woman survives euthanasia

[klondike]

I wonder whether hanging may eventually come back into use in the UK

The way the government is going I'd put it down as a fair possibility but it will be from lampposts.

October 03, 2026, 12:52:39 PM

Think it was the drop length rather than the weight 🤷🏻�♂️

Yes wan't it Gallileo that settled that at Pisa. Mind you the weight would determine minimum weight strength.

[Mups]

I wonder why they call it  'Capital Punishment',   and not just death penalty?
Strange name,  capital,  isn't it.

Anyway,  I've had enough of all this gore now.  

[Dextrous63]

I wonder why they call it  'Capital Punishment',  and not just death penalty?
Strange name,  capital,  isn't it.

Anyway,  I've had enough of all this gore now. 

The word capital comes from the Latin word caput, for head.  It evolved in matters, including pains and damage to the head thus kinda encompassing hanging/cutting off of head (de-capitation) and subsequently onto important or chief.  Hence capital money, city and letter.

👍🙂

October 03, 2026, 02:44:25 PM

October 03, 2026, 12:52:39 PMYes wan't it Gallileo that settled that at Pisa. Mind you the weight would determine minimum weight strength.

Galileo determined (demonstrated) that things will accelerate at the same rate regardless of mass.

One would imagine that different weights/builds of people would kinda be related to body structure, and that more energy would be required to kill a stronger body.  Hence a longer drop will enable a greater change from potential to kinetic energy, or something like that.

After all, one wants the process to be good enough to kill quickly, and not rip the head off.

[klondike]

Apparently that was one of the ways the job could be bodged. They couldn't  try again after that. 

[muddy]

I have no pity on her she was a sadistic murderer 
I can't think how her victims family can live with the memory of what was done to their child .

[Scrumpy]

I agree... I have no pity whatsoever... Just shoot her.. 

[klondike]

They could make it a double act on the upcoming TV spectacular with the cripple. 

[muddy]

I didn't like to say ........

[morty]

It could only happen in America ....

[Dextrous63]

And now, from Georgia, it's the death of the week.... Presented by Nick alas no pardons.

Come on down.  The Price is death...m

Let's play, .... Spin the gibbet.

Tonight's special prize... a luxury plastic lined picnic basket to catch your head from the guillotine.

[Ruthio]

I'm not making excuses for what she did, but I wonder how many bother to know this about her life...



When Tennessee sentenced Christa Pike to death on March 30th, 1996, for a crime she committed as an eighteen-year-old, she became the youngest woman to receive a death sentence in the modern era. As the judge sentenced her to die, Christa—her face still sprinkled with adolescent acne—sobbed uncontrollably and called out for her mother. If the State carries out her execution, it will be the first time Tennessee has executed a woman since 1819.

Growing up, Christa suffered an "almost unbearably abusive background," according to Dr. Jonathan Pincus, Professor of Neurology at Georgetown University. A victim of child sexual abuse, multiple rapes, and parental abandonment and neglect, Christa first attempted to take her own life when she was twelve. When she was seventeen, a stranger grabbed her by the side of the road, threw her down, and violently raped her. The police never arrested him. Without treatment or support, she was forced to navigate both the consequences of her child rapes and the symptoms of untreated mental illness. Nearly a year to the day after the rape, Christa and two other teenagers killed Colleen Slemmer. One of those teenagers was Christa's boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp—a boy she loved even after he hit, kicked, and threatened her with a razor blade.
Christa is now 50 years old. She is not the same person she was at the age of eighteen. Medical research conducted over the last two decades has established that the juvenile brain does not fully develop until a person is in their mid-20s. Yet Christa was sentenced to die, while Tadaryl, who was only a few months younger than she at the time of the crime they committed together, was not. The disparate treatment they received is based on Tennessee law that excludes "juveniles"—defined as anyone under the age of 18—from capital punishment. Yet neuroscientists now know that there is no meaningful difference in brain development between a seventeen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old.
Christa has always accepted responsibility for her role in Colleen Slemmer's death. At the same time, her involvement in the crime cannot be separated from her youth and her history of child sexual abuse, rape, brain impairment, and severe mental illness. Dr. Bethany Brand, a clinical psychologist with over three decades of specializing in the assessment and treatment of trauma-related disorders, described Christa's history as "extraordinarily severe extreme trauma." According to Dr. Brand, Christa "experienced more severe adverse events than 99% of the US population."

[Dextrous63]

I read that a couple or so weeks ago Ruthio.

It's a pity that no such appraisal of how Colleen Slemmer has developed over the same time period, for somewhat obvious reasons.

[Scrumpy]

She sobbed when hearing the death sentence being read out...
I wonder if  her and the two others heard their victim crying out..
It is ALL.. very, very sad..

[morty]

Sounds tragic all round .... but I've still no sympathy for her. 

[Dextrous63]

The only sympathy I have is that it's taking so long to carry out.