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| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 |
| Lethal injection as humane execution? |
Lethal injection was supposed to be a more humane and modern way to execute people. People who watched electric chair or gas chamber executions were horrified by the physical pain endured by the prisoner. Lethal injection solved that... the prisoner appears to just go to sleep. No movements, screams, etc.
But many experts have been warning for years that we are doing lethal injection in a dangerous way, in which the prisoner might be experiencing horrible pain that they cannot convey physically. This is because lethal injection today is a series of 3 drugs, the first of which basically causes near-total paralysis of all the body's muscles. So if the second drug that stops your heart was causing searing, agonizing pain, there's no way anyone would know.
The NYTimes discusses the issue today in an article, noting that judges across the country are starting to recognize the problem.
It's probably only a matter of time before states are compelled to find a new way to kill, or at least new drugs to administer in a different order. But how about we take a state back, and realize that perhaps this is telling us something.... that it's not right for the state to kill. |
posted by CB @ 9:52 AM   |
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