lethal injection

Today I saw a story on CNN.com about an upcoming Supreme Court case. Specifically, the Supreme Court Justices have decided to take on lethal injection. Two inmates, sentenced to death, have brought suit claiming that the lethal injection is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

My knee-jerk reaction was, "you've got to be kidding me". When I think of cruel and unusual punishment, I think of the prisons I saw in Africa - prisons were innocent people might be trapped in an unjust legal system; where the prisoners were lucky if they had a kitchen, much less food to cook; prisons where health care is only a pipe dream; prisons where the prisoners died soon after they entered, not due to injection, but to malnourishment, disease, abuse at the hands of the prison guards, and so many more completely cruel and unusual reasons.

Lethal injection? Guys, the world has much bigger problems. If you've been sentenced to execution, you are going to die anyway. How you die, how long it takes you to die, and how much pain you feel in the process are rights that you sacrificed when you committed the crime that led to this. Deal with it.