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August 20, 2008 4:14:50 PM CDT

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States Drag Feet on 'Humane' Lethal Injections

Posted Jan 3, 08 1:04 PM CST in US 

(Newser) – With the Supreme Court scrutinizing whether lethal injections constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," the New York Times wonders why none of the 38 states who use it have taken a simple step that could solve the problem: trade the three-drug sequence that's said to risk intense pain for a single drug used to euthanize animals. None wants to be the first to make the move, the paper finds.

Even though it would simplify executions and make them "humane," states don't want to be pioneers in a politically charged process, they say; they'd rather wait for the courts to spearhead the change. As it stands now, "there's safety in numbers," says one expert. The Supreme Court will hear Baze v. Rees next week; until a ruling is forthcoming, there's a de facto moratorium on executions around the country.

Source New York Times

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Death penalty opponents hold hands and sing following the execution of Christopher Newton at the Southern Ohio Correction Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, Thursday, May 24, 2007. Newton was executed Thursday...   (Associated Press)
Ralph S. Baze holds a copy of photo of the crime scene as he talks during an interview Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Ky. (AP Photo/Daniel R. Patmore)   (Associated Press)
The "death bed" in the death chamber is separated by bars, foreground, from the witness viewing room at the Walls Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville, Texas, in this Jan. 25, 1995...   (Associated Press)
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crime  • US Supreme Court  • death penalty  • capital punishment  • lethal injection  • cruel and unusual punishment


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