Editor's note: The following was translated and edited from a report that appeared on China.com, which details the first execution by lethal injection in Quanzhou's brand new facility, making it the latest in a series of cities to make the switch from death by firing squad. The report is then followed by a brief discussion of the relative morality between the two methods, including a comparison to the American system.

It might seem a morbid way to christen a new facility, but when you're the first customer of a brand new lethal injection center, sometimes you just have to take one for the team. On the morning of September 26, sentenced criminal Zheng Jinzhen became the first man in Quanzhou, Fujian to receive the three-drug cocktail into his veins, tagging Quanzhou as the latest in a growing list of Chinese cities (Beijing, Taiyuan, Chengdu and the entire province of Yunnan) to adopt lethal injection as its primary method of capital punishment over the long-standing tradition of using a firing squad.

Depending on how you feel about the use of capital punishment, Zheng—who arranged for his friend to be thrown into a van and driven into the mountains, robbed (of 12,000 RMB in cash and 110,000 RMB in savings) at gunpoint and then beaten to death—may not have deserved to die. However, given that he was already on China's death row, inevitably destined for the big Tiantang (heaven) in the sky; is lethal injection actually a better way to go?

Lethal injection, more humane

Since 1949, execution by firing squad has been the official capital punishment of the People's Republic of China, made even more official in 1979 when it was enacted into criminal law as the only execution approved by the Chinese government. Though details are kept secret, if we assume the methods are the same as that of the United States, a death by firing squad entails being simultaneously fired upon by a team of trained professionals, one of whom is actually firing a useless blank round—psychological impact among the shooters is mitigated by willful ignorance of exactly who fired the blank. "Maybe I didn't kill anyone today," is something every firing squad member can safely say to him- or herself as he or she goes to sleep at night.

In 1996, however, Kunming became the first Chinese city to test the lethal injection method pioneered and preferred in the United States. Mobile execution vans were on the roads by 1997, gradually gaining acceptance in other cities, until, by the end of 2009, death by firing squad in the nation's capital of Beijing was officially nixed in favor of lethal injection, praised by authorities as simpler, faster, safer, quieter, and more humane.

But is it, actually?

Lethal injection certainly appears to satisfy our desire for death (if necessary) to be quick, painless and clinical. But what about Rommel Broom, the American death row convict who in late 2009 waited two whole hours before "doctors" found a suitable vein in his arm to receive the poisonous IV? "Doctors" is in scare quotes because American medical organizations have banned their professionals from participating in death sentences, leaving the vein-finding and sticking to prison employees.

Then there's the issue of speed. Even in the best of circumstances, a lethal injection takes approximately nine minutes to course its way through enough blood vessels to end a life. Death by bullet to the heart? Less than one minute from gunshot to official time of death, according to a cardiogram report from a Utah firing squad death in 1938. Probably slower than you thought, but short of total molecular disintegration, it's difficult to get much faster.

"Human(e) rights"

Then again, it's another matter to convince legislators that a gun is more humane than a needle. Chinese authorities certainly seem decided on the issue, and from a country with more than 40 years of exclusive firing squad experience, it's hard to argue.

Lawyer Wu Jiahong, representing Fujian's Zhongyu Hezhong law firm in Quanzhou, believes lethal injection to be a massive improvement over traditional shooting in terms of pain experienced by the recipient—a step in the right direction for international humanitarianism.

One Quanzhou judge who witnessed a firing squad execution first-hand goes on the record: "My heart pounded and my legs couldn't stop shaking; I couldn't eat for days." After the injection earlier this week, however, he reported being much more at ease.

According to Wu Qingshu, Ph.D. candidate and lecturer in the department of law at Huaqiao University, "We can't know for sure what it feels like for the convict, and we'll probably never know exactly how much pain is experienced."

 "We do know, however, that lethal injection is the more humane option." Wu suggests, if at all possible, that officials should try to get more input from those on death row. "That way it's not just more humane; it's a realization of human rights."

Source: China.com

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Keywords: capital punishment China lethal injection China forms of capital punishment China firing squad China execution methods China