Death Song Thailand

Norman Mailer wrote his 1979 Pulitzer-winning EXECUTIONER’S SONG about Gary Gilmore’s 1977 execution by the State of Utah.

His crime. A 1976 murder spreed.

Method of death; shooting squad or noose.

He opted for the shooting squad rather than the noose.

Gilmore refused any reprieve from his fate.

"Death is the only inescapable, unavoidable, sure thing. We are sentenced to die the day we're born."

He walked the Last Mile on the morning of January 17, 1977.

His last meal from the Utah State Prison consisted of steak, potatoes, milk and coffee and a six-pack of beer. He ate nothing and drank the milk and coffee. Smuggled Jack Daniels was his last sustenance on Earth.

The Death House was an abandoned cannery. 5 riflemen from the local police served as the Death Squad.

His last words.

"Let's do it."

Gary Gilmore had remarked to Norman Mailer that he was different from most people, because he knew the exact moment of his death. Norman Mailer considered this insight extraordinary, yet didn’t extrapolate further to the fact that everyone was privy to the hour of Gary Gilmore’s date with destiny.

Especially the shooting squad.

Same as Chavoret Jaruboon, who had been Thailand’s primary executioner during the 20th Century.

Thailand’s method of capital punishment combined a ritual crucifixion with a single man shooting the victim in the back. Chavoret Jaruboon’s total is 55. Target. The heart. Only the shooter is aiming at a target behind a screen. 15 bullets are allotted for each occasion. Even the best get sloppy with a blind shot.

His 55 victims are 95 less than the 150 Texans killed by GW Bush’s stroke of a pen.

No one is shot in America anymore.

Americans rationalize that death by injection is a more merciful method of execution. Personally I’d choose a hot shot of heroin over a chemical concoction of dubious origins.

The majority of US Citizens consider the death penalty as an effective weapon against murder. The FBI reports that each execution deters at least 3-17 extra victims.

Guess they aren’t taking into account Columbine or Virginia Tech, where the killers don’t make it to court.

China kills thousands of criminals each year. There is no appeal. A bullet to the head and the family has to pay for the bullet.

In 1995 I witnessed a parade of trucks in Chengdu transporting about 30 victims to the sports stadium. The resignation on their faces betrayed none expected a last minute reprieve.

Neither did any of GW Bush’s 150.

China even has a mobile execution van. Death is by injection. Comfortable sitting for six witnesses. No body damage for better organ harvesting. Due to international pressure prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics the Chinese have cut their executions from 12,000 a year to about 7500 per annum.

Still more than all the other countries in the world combined.

Each and every of the condemned 'Guilty if Charged'.
Thailand tries to do its part to reduce the criminal population.

A bullet is better than previous methods.

Until 1934 Thailand decapitated criminals. A swordsman would leap from behind the victim and lop off their head. This ambush was to designed to prevent the dead man’s ghost from haunting the killer. The head was then stuck on a pole and the bodies fed to birds of prey ie vultures. This was an improvement on earlier techniques such as inserting a red-hot iron in the brain or immolating a bound and impaled prisoner.

Unlike Gary Gilmore, none of the prisoners on Thailand’s Death Row are told the time of their death. Guards show up one morning and select a victim. Surprise. No last meal. No phone calls. Just, “Mung, bpai.”

Most are dragged kicking and screaming to their doom according to Mr. Chavoret, who was promoted to Warden of the Foreign Prisoners’ Section at Bangkok’s Bang Kwang Central Prison. He still deems that capital punishment acts as a deterrent to crime, despite its prohibition by Buddhist teachings.

“An eye for an eye.” He quoted the old Hebrew standard of retribution.

Of course no one speaks about the 3000-plus killings during Thaksin’s War of Drugs.

There too were guilty if charged.

There is no innocence for them.