EDITORIALS: North Carolina Newspapers Critique Execution Secrecy Law

On August 6, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed a law that removed the require­ment that a physi­cian be present at exe­cu­tions and shroud­ed in secre­cy many ele­ments of the lethal injec­tion process, includ­ing the spe­cif­ic drugs to be used and the sup­pli­ers of those drugs. By elim­i­nat­ing the physi­cian-par­tic­i­pa­tion require­ment, the law attempt­ed to remove a legal hur­dle that has halt­ed exe­cu­tions in North Carolina since 2006. Two major state news­pa­pers sharply crit­i­cized the new law, call­ing it, ​“macabre” and ​“an ugly spec­ta­cle.” The Fayetteville Observer said, ​“We need thought­ful dis­cus­sion of the issue and whether we’re impos­ing a fair sen­tence or sim­ply seek­ing revenge for a ter­ri­ble crime. What we don’t need is a General Assembly slic­ing away at rea­son­able pub­lic under­stand­ing of the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols, instead choos­ing to wrap it all in secre­cy.” The News & Observer (Raleigh) called the law ​“a hor­ri­bly mis­guid­ed idea,” cit­ing the ​“grue­some out­comes” of exper­i­men­tal lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols in oth­er states. The edi­to­r­i­al con­clud­ed, ​“Rather than put exe­cu­tions on a fast track, North Carolina should aban­don them altogether.”

(Editorial, ​“Cloaking NC death penal­ty won’t make it fair or error-free,” News & Observer, July 28, 2015; Editorial, ​“Our View: Don’t add secre­cy to the lethal-injec­tion for­mu­la,” Fayetteville Observer, July 29, 2015; C. Jarvis, ​“McCrory signs exe­cu­tions, gun bills,” News & Observer, August 6, 2015). See Editorials and Lethal Injection.