"Death" was removed from the scale of punishments, effective 01 September, 1999, IIRC.
I sense a tangent approachingIF we as a nation were to re-instate capital punishment, it would have be cruel and unusual in order to be effective. Before anyone labels me a sadist, allow me to explain.
It must be "perceived" as cruel by the convicted. This is why so-called "humane" methods aren't effective. Instead of being lulled to sleep by a drug, and then slowly applied a poison, one ought to dread the night when the hangman approaches. Yes, hanging by the neck, until dead. The mere thought of it must make us, as a society, a bit repulsed, in order that we don't get too used to the idea of "putting someone to sleep". This brings me to punisments being unusual. They must be so rare that when someone is hanged, it is national news. I can think of only a handful in the last 30 years or so who, in my own personal opinion, should have received death by hanging as a punishment. That tiny list includes Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. Their crimes were so repulsive that the three of them serve no use to society any further. Perhaps Robert Pickton ought to be added to that list, and perhaps there are a few more, but it must be an event that though it repulses us as a society, that we ought to be 100% sure that the convicted deserves the fate of the noose about his or her neck.