[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 5



USA:

25th Anniversary of Lethal Injection in US - Amnesty Intl
statement----Amnesty International USA Press Statement


LETHAL INJECTION IS ANOTHER 'FAILED EXPERIMENT' THAT 'HAS A CORROSIVE
EFFECT ON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION,' SAYS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, released the
following statement regarding the 25th anniversary (on December 7) of
lethal injection administered in the Unites States:

"In the past 25 years, the United States has carried out 929 executions by
lethal injection. These include numerous botched executions that
contradict the notion of a gentle death. Various autopsies have revealed
severe, foot-long chemical burns, collapsed veins and multiple puncture
marks on the skin. In some cases executions have lasted up to an hour,
with prisoners visibly gasping for air or convulsing in visible pain.

"Texas was the first state to use lethal injection with the December 7,
1982 execution of Charlie Brooks. Since then almost half of such
executions have been carried out in Texas, where the chemical mix has been
used to put 405 human beings to death. Ironically, in 2003 Texas passed a
law prohibiting the use of this very same cocktail to euthanize cats and
dogs -- a ban that exists in law or in practice throughout most of the
country. If this procedure is unacceptable for pets, clearly it is
unacceptable for human beings.

"Furthermore, lethal injection has a corrosive effect on the medical
profession, which finds itself reluctantly conscripted to play a lead role
in state-sanctioned killing. Health professionals who have sworn to do no
harm and to sustain human life are mired in an ethical morass when they
must participate in a process that extinguishes it.

In January the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine if
lethal injection constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment." Amnesty
International maintains that lethal injection is a failed experiment
designed to make the death penalty seem more sanitized and humane. At its
core, this system is arbitrary, capricious, racially biased and includes
the very real potential of executing the innocent. It exacts a toll on all
involved and can never be humane."

# # # For more information on Amnesty International's work on the death
penalty, please see: www.amnestyusa.org/abolish

(source: Amnesty International USA)