A new report issued by Human Rights Watch notes that most U.S. states use exe­cu­tion meth­ods that need­less­ly risk excru­ci­at­ing pain for inmates sub­ject­ed to lethal injec­tions. The report exam­ines the his­to­ry of lethal injec­tions and the wide­spread use of pro­to­cols that were cre­at­ed three decades ago with no sci­en­tif­ic research.

Excerpts from the report:

Although sup­port­ers of lethal injec­tion believe the pris­on­er dies pain­less­ly, there is mount­ing evi­dence that pris­on­ers may have expe­ri­enced excru­ci­at­ing pain dur­ing their exe­cu­tions. This should not be sur­pris­ing giv­en that cor­rec­tions agen­cies have not tak­en the steps nec­es­sary to ensure a pain­less exe­cu­tion. They use a sequence of drugs and a method of admin­is­tra­tion that were cre­at­ed with min­i­mal exper­tise and lit­tle delib­er­a­tion three decades ago, and that were then adopt­ed unques­tion­ing­ly by state offi­cials with no med­ical or sci­en­tif­ic back­ground. Little has changed since then. As a result, pris­on­ers in the United States are exe­cut­ed by means that the American Veterinary Medical Association regards as too cru­el to use on dogs and cats. (Executive Summary).

Although sup­port­ers of lethal injec­tion believe the pris­on­er dies pain­less­ly, there is mount­ing evi­dence that pris­on­ers may have expe­ri­enced excru­ci­at­ing pain dur­ing their exe­cu­tions. This should not be sur­pris­ing giv­en that cor­rec­tions agen­cies have not tak­en the steps nec­es­sary to ensure a pain­less exe­cu­tion. They use a sequence of drugs and a method of admin­is­tra­tion that were cre­at­ed with min­i­mal exper­tise and lit­tle delib­er­a­tion three decades ago, and that were then adopt­ed unques­tion­ing­ly by state offi­cials with no med­ical or sci­en­tif­ic back­ground. Little has changed since then. As a result, pris­on­ers in the United States are exe­cut­ed by means that the American Veterinary Medical Association regards as too cru­el to use on dogs and cats. (Part IV, foot­notes omitted).

Human rights law is pred­i­cat­ed on recog­ni­tion of the inher­ent dig­ni­ty and the equal and inalien­able rights of all peo­ple, includ­ing even those who have com­mit­ted ter­ri­ble crimes. It pro­hibits tor­ture and oth­er cru­el, inhu­man or degrad­ing pun­ish­ment. Human Rights Watch believes these rights can­not be rec­on­ciled with the death penal­ty, a form of pun­ish­ment unique in its cru­el­ty and final­i­ty, and a pun­ish­ment inevitably and uni­ver­sal­ly plagued with arbi­trari­ness, prej­u­dice, and error. Thus our first rec­om­men­da­tion is that states and the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment abol­ish the death penal­ty. If gov­ern­ments do not choose to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, they must still heed human rights prin­ci­ples by ensur­ing their exe­cu­tion meth­ods are cho­sen and admin­is­tered to min­i­mize the risk a con­demned pris­on­er will expe­ri­ence pain and suf­fer­ing. As state lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols have nev­er been sub­ject­ed to seri­ous med­ical and sci­en­tif­ic scruti­ny, Human Rights Watch rec­om­mends that each state sus­pends its lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions until it has con­vened a pan­el of anes­the­si­ol­o­gists, phar­ma­col­o­gists, doc­tors, cor­rec­tions offi­cials, pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, and judges to deter­mine whether or not its lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions as cur­rent­ly prac­ticed are indeed the most humane form of exe­cu­tion. (Recommendations).

Read the full report: So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States (April 24, 2006). See also, Methods of Execution and DPIC’s page on exe­cu­tions stayed and car­ried out since January.

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