pdq, off-hand I can't think of any country outside the US that has rated execution by injection as "humane" but I'm open to correction. ertgainly the story of how that method was introduced is almost as grotesque as the saga behind the first execution by electric chair (also in the US of course).

Leej, I'm sorry if my "British take" was part of what provoked your sharp retort, much of which I go along with. But the US a civilised society? Come on! :-)

The States stance on capital punishment certainly puts it ell outside any prevailing norms in the developed world, though I wouldn't rush to use that as a measure of civilisation. On factor that I find particularly odd is that the US is the only country anywhere that abolished the death penalty (de facto if not de jure) and then re-introduced it, albeit in a minority of states.

From memory, executions ended in the US in consequence of a couple of Supreme Court judgments. It was the execution of Gary Gilmore (for which he himself was the most vociferous advocate) that started the reverse (backward as I would call it) trend.

I also find it surprising that many advocates of judicial execution seem to be devout Christians. If I was a Christian I would find it very hard to reconcile that creed with support for capital punishment, which often seems to embrace a substantial element of vengeance.