Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling, Jr. sued the state of Kentucky in 2004 claiming that lethal injection is a cruel and unusual punishment. A state judge ruled that lethal injection was acceptable and the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed the decision. This morning the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) agreed "to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection in a case that could affect the way inmates are executed around the country" (CNN, 2007).
Lethal injection has been to the high court once in the past year and a half. In Hill v. Crosby (2006), SCOTUS ruled that death row inmates had the right to challenge the lethal injection process as a potential violation of the Eighth Amendment's "cruel and unusual" punishment clause. Lethal injection has also been in court numerous times throughout the states. Botched executions in Florida and Ohio resulted in the process being challenged in California, Florida, Tennessee, Maryland and elsewhere.
For those of you not familiar with the process, lethal injection is a three drug "cocktail" of sodium thipental, pancuronmium bromide and potassium chloride. Sodium thipental acts as an anesthesia, causing a loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds. Pancuronium bromide is a non-depolarizing muscle relaxant that blocks the action of acetylcholine and causes paralysis of the respiratory muscles. Potassium chloride affects the electrical conduction of the heart muscle, causing the heart to fail. When the cocktail works as expected, death occurs relatively quickly.
Research conducted earlier this year by the University of Miami, however, concluded that of the three drugs, only pancuronium bromide was "able to induce death reliably at the doses" examined (Reilly, 2007). Potassium chloride, execution logs showed, left inmates' hearts beating anywhere from 2 to 9 minutes after the dose was administered, and concentrations of sodium thiopental varied widely (from 10mg to 75mg) per kilogram of body weight in those executed (Reilly, 2007).
Those that know me around here, already know that I don't support the death penalty for numerous reasons, none of which I will get into here as that is not what this blog is about. What this is about is the ramifications of a decision by the Supreme Court.
If they decide that lethal injection is indeed a cruel and unusual punishment because of the flaws with the procedure, where do we go next? We've tried hanging, drowning, firing squads, electrocution, gas chambers, lethal injection, the guillotine and Goddess knows how many other creative and often gruesome means of rendering one completely and absolutely dead. None of these means of bringing about death have been found to be particularly humane. So, do we keep trying or do we recognize that it doesn't matter how you kill someone, sometimes it's going to be cruel, unusual and/or downright painful? And where does that leave us?
Quiet honestly, I don't see how we can continue to employ capital punishment and steer clear of "cruel and unusual punishment". There is no way, that I see, to reconcile the differences that will leave no possibility of error, not and keep both the clause and the punishment as is. Either the cruel and unusual clause needs to be redefined, or capital punishment needs to be rethought because no matter how you do it, sometimes the system used for rendering one dead is going to fail.
If SCOTUS decides lethal injection is an acceptable means as is, I suppose the wondering will be for naught. But, it's the possibility of lethal injection being deemed unconstitutional that has piqued my interest. I don't know what comes next, but I'm looking forward to finding out (as gruesome as that sounds). While I would love to see us do away with capital punishment in favor of life in prison (with several chunks of solitary confinement to boot); I doubt that's next on the agenda. Despite all the statistics and research out there, most Americans aren't ready to forego capital punishment, no matter how cruel or unusual the method.
So, what do you think comes next if lethal injection goes?
Links to explore:
CNN Article
Wiki on Lethal Injection
Reilly Article on Research into Lethal Injection
Methods of Execution in United States
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I have always thought lethal injection was a bit cruel.
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http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tiffany-southall
Tiffany Southall signing out by keeping you up-to-date.
I have to disagree. I find that lethal injection, if done properly is the most humane way to end someone's life. Although, I might change the first injection to something different. What needs to happen is to have a medical doctor calculate the appropriate lethal doses based upon the subject's weight, height and medical condition. I am only in favor of the death penalty for certain things and only when there is evidence that goes way beyond reasonable doubt, but again, that is another story for another day. If lethal injection is done properly, it is the most humane way.
Yours in Crisis,
ER Adam
We were actually just talking about this in my American Dilemmas class. Apparently the stuff we use kill humans we used to use to kill animals, but it was deemed a cruel way to kill animals. I forget what it is exactly. I agree with you about killing being seen as "humane", but it'll be a long time before capital punishment is abolished. I Personally think the best killing device was the guillotine, at least after your head it chopped off there is no question of the person still being alive or not.
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