Post by falcon66 on Jul 8, 2006 19:45:58 GMT -5
Death penalty nears white light
The high court should be commended for taking steps to send the death penalty on its way out.
Although capital punishment is still alive in the United States, 2 recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions reflect America's growing distaste for executions.
In House v. Bell, the justices ruled 5 to 3 that Tennessee death row inmate Paul Gregory House can introduce DNA evidence to try to overturn his conviction for the 1985 murder of a neighbor. DNA testing revealed that the semen on the victim's nightgown belonged to her husband, not House. (House was the 1st person to bring DNA evidence to the Supreme Court to maintain his innocence.)
Meanwhile, in Hill v. McDonough, the court was unanimous in allowing Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill to challenge the chemicals used in executions on the ground that they are too painful and violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Most states, including Florida, use 3 drugs to kill a prisoner: sodium thiopental (a painkiller that is administered at the beginning of the execution that induces unconsciousness), pancuronium bromide (which paralyzes the inmate) and potassium chloride (to induce a heart attack).
Lawyers for Hill cited a 2005 study in the Lancet medical journal that found that pancuronium bromide can suffocate a person, while potassium chloride can cause muscle cramping and burning of the veins before the person dies.
The study also questioned whether the painkiller can wear off before the inmate's death. Hill, who is on Florida's death row for the 1982 murder of a police officer, was strapped to a gurney with tubes running into his arms when Justice Kennedy intervened and blocked the execution in January.
Of the 38 states that have the death penalty, 37 states use lethal injection (Nebraska's electric chair is being contested).
The Bush administration and many states supported Florida in arguing that extending the appeals process would come at the expense of finality and justice for the families of the victims.
These supporters of capital punishment seem intent on keeping the death train running, despite the problems inherent in the system.
But the Supreme Court's recent decisions are a hopeful sign of its increasing discomfort with many aspects of the death penalty system, as Steven Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
I believe the death penalty itself constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
The international community deplores it as a violation of human rights law, and the European Union forbids it.
As a society, we should not countenance a lust for blood, vengeance and retribution that will never make the victims' families whole.
Although states may attempt to make torture cleaner, more antiseptic, less graphic and more acceptable, it cannot change what is an inherently barbaric practice.
The court's decisions bring us a little closer to the day when the United States can rejoin the international community by banning capital punishment once and for all.
(source: Spokesman Review)
The high court should be commended for taking steps to send the death penalty on its way out.
Although capital punishment is still alive in the United States, 2 recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions reflect America's growing distaste for executions.
In House v. Bell, the justices ruled 5 to 3 that Tennessee death row inmate Paul Gregory House can introduce DNA evidence to try to overturn his conviction for the 1985 murder of a neighbor. DNA testing revealed that the semen on the victim's nightgown belonged to her husband, not House. (House was the 1st person to bring DNA evidence to the Supreme Court to maintain his innocence.)
Meanwhile, in Hill v. McDonough, the court was unanimous in allowing Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill to challenge the chemicals used in executions on the ground that they are too painful and violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Most states, including Florida, use 3 drugs to kill a prisoner: sodium thiopental (a painkiller that is administered at the beginning of the execution that induces unconsciousness), pancuronium bromide (which paralyzes the inmate) and potassium chloride (to induce a heart attack).
Lawyers for Hill cited a 2005 study in the Lancet medical journal that found that pancuronium bromide can suffocate a person, while potassium chloride can cause muscle cramping and burning of the veins before the person dies.
The study also questioned whether the painkiller can wear off before the inmate's death. Hill, who is on Florida's death row for the 1982 murder of a police officer, was strapped to a gurney with tubes running into his arms when Justice Kennedy intervened and blocked the execution in January.
Of the 38 states that have the death penalty, 37 states use lethal injection (Nebraska's electric chair is being contested).
The Bush administration and many states supported Florida in arguing that extending the appeals process would come at the expense of finality and justice for the families of the victims.
These supporters of capital punishment seem intent on keeping the death train running, despite the problems inherent in the system.
But the Supreme Court's recent decisions are a hopeful sign of its increasing discomfort with many aspects of the death penalty system, as Steven Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
I believe the death penalty itself constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
The international community deplores it as a violation of human rights law, and the European Union forbids it.
As a society, we should not countenance a lust for blood, vengeance and retribution that will never make the victims' families whole.
Although states may attempt to make torture cleaner, more antiseptic, less graphic and more acceptable, it cannot change what is an inherently barbaric practice.
The court's decisions bring us a little closer to the day when the United States can rejoin the international community by banning capital punishment once and for all.
(source: Spokesman Review)
