I just read, "Study: Lethal Injections Slow, Painful Deaths" by AP and appearing on KMBC.com (April 23, 2007). Unbelievably the report says things like:
"The drugs used to execute prisoners in the United States sometimes fail to work as planned, causing slow and painful deaths that probably violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment, a new medical review of dozens of executions concludes."
and...
"But 11 states have suspended its use after opponents alleged it is ineffective and cruel. The issue came to a head last year in California, when a federal judge ordered that doctors assist in killing Michael Morales, convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl. Doctors refused, and legal arguments continue in the case."
Where was all this concern as Terri Schiavo was being slowly starved and dehydrated to death? A process that took 13 agonizing days to complete. But then... if what was done to Terri wasn't cruel and unusual punishment, why not execute by dehydration? Yes, why not?
1 comments:
The irony of your point regarding the pain caused by the way the starved and dehydrated Terri Schiavo is accurate and well taken.
I'd also like to point out, just for the record, that every care is taken to minimize the pain of lethal injection for murderers (unlike the precautions taken for Terri). And the concerns of those whose hearts bleed for murderers are almost certainly unfounded.
Dudley Sharp, a death penalty expert, addressed this last year during all the concern over Elijah Page's impending excecution: http://www.dakotavoice.com/200608/Opinion/Guest/20060824_DS.html
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