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The Year of the Botched Execution [1]
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Date: 2023-01-03
In its year-end report, “The Death Penalty in 2022” , the Death Penalty Information Center named 2022 as the “Year of the Botched Execution”, as executions conducted then were so badly done that they amount to what a reasonable person could describe as torture. Of the 18 executions performed last year, seven were described as “visibly problematic”, and due to “executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols or defects in the protocols themselves.” The truth is that 2022 was not unique. Botched death row executions are nothing new. What has changed is that the public is becoming increasingly aware of them.
The State of Capital Punishment in America
When Joe Biden took office, he halted federal executions. Nonetheless, some states still have the death penalty on their books. Just six states, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Missouri, Arizona, and Mississippi, were responsible for all the executions conducted last year. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states. In Oregon, California, and Pennsylvania, there are governor-imposed moratoriums.While the 18 executed was a rise from 11 the year before, the number of executions has been in a steady decline. In the last eight years, the number of executions has not exceeded 30. The death penalty has been issued less than 50 times a year in that period. Yet, thanks to the history of capital punishment in America, as of 2020, there were 2,469 prisoners under sentence of death. Of those under sentence of death, 97.9% were male, and 40% were Black.
Gruesome Spectacles
Executions often do not go according to plan. On July 28, executioners pierced Joe Nathan James Jr. across his body as they struggled to find a vein to insert the IV catheter. James was forced to assist his executioners, guiding them as to where they could find a vein. The resulting execution violated the state’s own protocols.
The problems arise because lethal injections are not very effective means of executing a person. Added to that, executioners are not trained medical staff, because medical staff are obliged to save lives, not take them. Instead what you have are a bunch of guys with very little if any knowledge of biology or chemistry, overseeing a complex medical procedure. In any other sphere of human life, there would be outrage, and yet, there are still many advocates for this insanity.
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