Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 3, 2006 20:38:19 GMT -5
There's no small irony to the fact that an inmate can linger on Ohio's death row for years, but when time comes for an execution, the killing process is generally performed in haste.
The race to carry out a capital sentence probably contributed to the botched execution of Joseph Clark in May, according to Terry Collins, Ohio's recently appointed corrections director. Collins acknowledged in a report released on Wednesday that an "artificial, self-imposed time barrier" led execution teams to believe that they had to do their work quickly.
A rushed and inefficient execution is no more acceptable than a rush to judgment. If this state insists on continuing to execute people, a public policy this newspaper opposes, it at least should not embarrass itself.
It took nearly 40 minutes to kill Clark, a long-term drug abuser, as an ill-trained staff struggled to find a suitable vein. At one point, he reportedly pleaded for another manner of death. This sideshow understandably drew national attention and forced the state to take another close look at the way it kills.
Collins says future executions will be performed more carefully. The state will examine death row inmates more closely before executions for potential complications, and changes in the injection process itself are likely.
Tweaking may help, but it won't dispel critics' belief that lethal
injection violates the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
Florida has postponed all executions while the federal courts explore that constitutional question, and it's only a matter of time until it finds its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is no reason why Ohio shouldn't do the same.
(source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)
The race to carry out a capital sentence probably contributed to the botched execution of Joseph Clark in May, according to Terry Collins, Ohio's recently appointed corrections director. Collins acknowledged in a report released on Wednesday that an "artificial, self-imposed time barrier" led execution teams to believe that they had to do their work quickly.
A rushed and inefficient execution is no more acceptable than a rush to judgment. If this state insists on continuing to execute people, a public policy this newspaper opposes, it at least should not embarrass itself.
It took nearly 40 minutes to kill Clark, a long-term drug abuser, as an ill-trained staff struggled to find a suitable vein. At one point, he reportedly pleaded for another manner of death. This sideshow understandably drew national attention and forced the state to take another close look at the way it kills.
Collins says future executions will be performed more carefully. The state will examine death row inmates more closely before executions for potential complications, and changes in the injection process itself are likely.
Tweaking may help, but it won't dispel critics' belief that lethal
injection violates the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
Florida has postponed all executions while the federal courts explore that constitutional question, and it's only a matter of time until it finds its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is no reason why Ohio shouldn't do the same.
(source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)