As 2022 draws to a close, a new grim distinction can be attached to it: in America it was the year of the botched execution.
In its annual review of US capital punishment, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reveals the astonishing statistic that 35% of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematic.
Several were agonisingly drawn out as officials tried to secure a vein through which to inject lethal drugs, leading lawyers to describe the process as a form of torture. Others were carried out in violation of state protocols. Some went ahead even though there were defects in those protocols themselves.
As a result of these severe hitches, seven execution attempts could be construed as having been botched. Such a high proportion of problematic executions points to a gathering storm over the practice of lethal injections, the dominant method of judicial killings in the US which this month mark its 40th anniversary.
For the record I’m against the death penalty for the simple fact our government isn’t sufficiently evolved enough to be trusted with the power of life and death over its citizens.
CP is one of the few controversial issues I have changed my mind on back and forth over the years, finally settling on against for the reason you state as well as others. However, if it exists, it’s a mystery why they can’t figure that one out. Vets have been putting animals down with no pain and close to 100% success for decades and decades. Overdose deaths reached a record high in 2021, over 100K deaths, mostly due to fentanyl. It’s dirt cheap, massive dose = bye bye quickly and without pain, and done.
As is, they use chems that are very difficult to obtain and very $, because few companies want to be involved with producing chems that kill people.
I think that one had a pretty high rate of not going well I recall. Everything has to be set up perfectly to snap the neck and many times it did not. That’s my recollection and one reason they looked for other routes, most of which also had high rates of failures like the sizzle chair and gas chambers etc.
What complete BS. So DPIC (be careful googling that) criteria for a bad execution are if they had trouble finding a vein?
I understand the issues around CP, and frankly I wish we did it more so that we’d have to do it less… But I understand that there are issues around incorrect sentences, and that makes me OK if we didn’t do it and just put people away. Except for the true killer Krazies that if they did happen to get out, would be an inherent threat to society. Wack those dudes.
Color me old and jaded.
To be sentenced to Death, one must perform exceptionally heinous crimes.
If the condemned suffers on the way OUT, just chalk it to Karma.
As I suspected, percentages in such small numbers are misleading. So 7 of 20 were botched. It isn’t something they do very often and such a seldom used process is prone to mistakes.
This, 100%. Mixed feelings about whether past governments were better, but both state and federal have been an absolute cluster for decades now, with zero sign of improvement.
Michigan hasn’t had a state death penalty for over 150 years, but actual life in prison without parole. It seems to work well enough. Obvious financial cost of keeping someone in prison for 50-60 years (since so many killers are 18-25) but the cost of typical appeals and BS with execution cases supposedly is greater.
This is a bad faith attempt to bypass debate with an emotional response. This org would not change their opinion if a perfect method for execution was found.
I respond in kind. It is a form of torture to lock people up for life, so the quicker we execute these convicts the more humane we are.
Meh. Bring back gladiators. Fights to the death streamed pay per view. IE: Parkland shooter vs Q Club shooter with baseball bats. PPV and “off track wagering” commissions to help fund LE/corrections/APP budgets.
I remember an Oklahoma inmate took hours to die and yelled it burned. Nobody stopped to think about the fact he raped a 13-14 month old baby that died from internal injuries among other depraved actions. He was sentenced to die and I did, it this case I could care less if it was peaceful, or him saying it burns could be confirmation hell exist.
Ever see a nurse try to inject a long time drug user? Those junkies got shit veins all collapsed and scared up. It they did more than 20 a year they would be more practiced and run smoother.
