I am the author of the article on which this video was based, and I thank everyone for the comments.

That original article is here on the GOOD site, and it has a healthy population of comments that echo many of the concerns mentioned on this page.  You’ll also find there (both in the article itself and in comments) an expression of my views on this subject that is both less and more subtle than those in this entertaining video.

My view, in short, is that capital punishment is deeply wrong, and that the United States should move to abolish it. What the article highlights is the disparity between the moral hand-wringing we apply to the inmate-organ-donation question, compared to the lack of much discussion at all of the capital punishment issue itself.  We quibble over whether a man has a right (!) to donate (!) his liver, but we are silent about the fact that the reason he is in a position to donate his liver is because he is soon to be a literal victim of human sacrifice by the state. Surely we can find the energy to consider both moral problems.

I agree with thecoup: whether we permit inmates to donate their organs is much less important than whether we kill people in the first place. What I hope this article conveys is the astonishing mismatch between our scrupulous consideration of the first question, and our shamefully unthoughtful discussion of the second.

On an unrelated note, many have brought up to me an important point about prisoner organ donation, which for reasons of space did not fit in the article above. Inmates live in close quarters, and they share needles. They tend to be an unhealthy population, rife with hepatitis and other bugs that would disqualify them from donating their organs. Two points:

(1) Organ donors are a more exclusive club than most people realize. Unless you happen to die with a massive head injury, and are otherwise in excellent shape, your organs might be no good. (More organ donors are needed: sSign up to be an organ donor today.)

(2) We should worry not only about the horrible deaths of prisoners, but about their horrible lives as well.

I am the author of the article on which this video was based, and I thank everyone for the comments.

That original article is here on the GOOD site, and it has a healthy population of comments that echo many of the concerns mentioned on this page.  You’ll also find there (both in the article itself and in comments) an expression of my views on this subject that is both less and more subtle than those in this entertaining video.

My view, in short, is that capital punishment is deeply wrong, and that the United States should move to abolish it. What the article highlights is the disparity between the moral hand-wringing we apply to the inmate-organ-donation question, compared to the lack of much discussion at all of the capital punishment issue itself.  We quibble over whether a man has a right (!) to donate (!) his liver, but we are silent about the fact that the reason he is in a position to donate his liver is because he is soon to be a literal victim of human sacrifice by the state. Surely we can find the energy to consider both moral problems.

I agree with thecoup: whether we permit inmates to donate their organs is much less important than whether we kill people in the first place. What I hope this article conveys is the astonishing mismatch between our scrupulous consideration of the first question, and our shamefully unthoughtful discussion of the second.

On an unrelated note, many have brought up to me an important point about prisoner organ donation, which for reasons of space did not fit in the article above. Inmates live in close quarters, and they share needles. They tend to be an unhealthy population, rife with hepatitis and other bugs that would disqualify them from donating their organs. Two points:

(1) Organ donors are a more exclusive club than most people realize. Unless you happen to die with a massive head injury, and are otherwise in excellent shape, your organs might be no good. (More organ donors are needed: sSign up to be an organ donor today.)

(2) We should worry not only about the horrible deaths of prisoners, but about their horrible lives as well.