Hi all, gees where is everybody?
Received this in an email today
Another worthwhile organisation on the death penalty
U.S.: States Negligent in Use of Lethal Injections
Execution Method May Cause Agonizing Death
(New York, April 24, 2006) – Incompetence, negligence, and
irresponsibility by U.S. states put condemned prisoners at needless risk of
excruciating pain during lethal injection executions, Human Rights Watch
said in a report released today. Lethal injections are used in 37 of the 38
death penalty states in the United States and by the federal government.
Every execution in 2005 was by lethal injection.
The 65-page report, "So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United
States," reveals the slipshod history of executions by lethal injection, using
a protocol created three decades ago with no scientific research, nor
modern adaptation, and still unchanged today. As the prisoner lies
strapped to a gurney, a series of three drugs is injected into his vein by
executioners hidden behind a wall. A massive dose of sodium thiopental,
an anesthetic, is injected first, followed by pancuronium bromide, which
paralyzes voluntary muscles, but leaves the prisoner fully conscious and
able to experience pain. A third drug, potassium chloride, quickly causes
cardiac arrest, but the drug is so painful that veterinarian guidelines
prohibit its use unless a veterinarian first ensures that the pet to be put
down is deeply unconscious. No such precaution is taken for prisoners
being executed.
"The U.S. takes more care killing dogs than people," said Jamie Fellner,
U.S. program director at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report.
"Just because a prisoner may have killed without care or conscience does
not mean that the state should follow suit."
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances and
calls for its abolition. But until the 38 death penalty states and the federal
government abolish capital punishment, international human rights law
requires them to ensure they have developed a method of execution that
will reduce, to the greatest extent possible, the condemned prisoner’s risk
of mental or physical pain and suffering.
Human Rights Watch urges that states suspend execution by lethal
injection until they have conducted a thorough review and assessment of
existing and alternative methods.
The drug sequence used in the United States was developed in 1977 by a
medical examiner in Oklahoma who had no expertise in pharmacology or
anesthesia. Texas quickly adopted Oklahoma’s protocol, and at least 34
other states then did too. (Nevada’s protocol remains secret). Human Right
Watch found that none of the states consulted medical experts to ascertain
whether the original three-drug sequence could be adapted to lessen the
risk of pain to the prisoner by using other drugs or methods of
administering them.
"Copycatting is not the right way to decide how to put people to death,"
said Fellner. "If a state is going to execute someone, it must do its
homework, consult with experts, and select a method designed to inflict
the least possible pain and suffering."
Without adequate or properly-administered anesthesia, prisoners executed
by the three-drug sequence would be conscious during suffocation caused
by the paralytic agent, and would feel the fiery pain from the potassium
chloride coursing through their veins. Logs from recent executions in
California, and toxicology reports from recent executions in North
Carolina, suggest prisoners may in fact have been inadequately
anesthetized before being put to death.
Corrections agencies have rejected the option of executing prisoners with
a single massive injection of a barbiturate, even though that should
provide a painless death, because such a method would force executioners
and witnesses to wait about 30 minutes longer for the prisoner’s heart to
stop beating. Corrections officials have also resisted eliminating the
pancuronium bromide – the paralytic agent – even though its use makes it
much harder to tell if a prisoner is sufficiently anesthetized. The drug is
not needed to kill the prisoner, nor does it protect him from pain: it
appears intended mainly to keep his body from twitching or convulsing
while dying. It also masks any pain the prisoner might be feeling, since he
cannot move, cry out, or even blink his eyes.
"Prison officials have been more concerned about sparing the sensitivities
of executioners and witnesses than protecting the condemned prisoner
from pain," said Fellner. "They are more concerned with appearances than
with the reality."
Although prisoners have for years brought legal claims that lethal
injections were unconstitutionally cruel, courts have until recently given
short shrift to their arguments. Troubled by new and powerful evidence of
possibly botched executions, federal courts in California and North
Carolina have this year refused to permit scheduled executions to take
place using the standard lethal injection protocol. On April 26, the U.S.
Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about the procedures a prisoner
must follow to challenge lethal injections.
Until recent years, the United States was the only country in the world that
used lethal injection as an execution method. Several other countries that
have not yet abolished the death penalty have followed: China started
using lethal injection in 1997; Guatemala executed its first prisoner by
lethal injection in 1998; and the Philippines and Thailand have had lethal
injection execution laws in place since 2001 (although to date, they have
not executed anyone by this method).
To read the report, "So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United
States," please visit:
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/
Do You Support The Death Penalty ?
NO
... and want to try and help ... in whatever way possible ... to make the next year or so bearable by supporting these young Aussies any way I possibly can.
