Which is kinder? A firing squad or the electric chair?

There's no good way to kill a prisoner. That won't stop South Carolina.

Richard Moore.
(Image credit: Illustrated | AP Images, Getty Images, iStock)

Before the end of the month, South Carolina is scheduled to execute Richard Bernard Moore for the crime of murdering a convenience store clerk in 2001. The plan is that he will either be electrocuted or shot to death by a firing squad — the state leaves the option up to him. Understandably, Moore would prefer neither.

So Moore's attorneys have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution, citing the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment." "The electric chair and the firing squad are antiquated, barbaric methods of execution that virtually all American jurisdictions have left behind," Moore's attorney wrote in a court filing last week.

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Joel Mathis, The Week US

Joel Mathis is a freelance writer who has spent nine years as a syndicated columnist, co-writing the RedBlueAmerica column as the liberal half of a point-counterpoint duo. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic, The Kansas City Star and Heatmap News. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.