A new report issued by Human Rights Watch today notes that most U.S. states use exe­cu­tion meth­ods that need­less­ly risk excru­ci­at­ing pain for inmates sub­ject­ed to lethal injec­tions. The report, ​“So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States,” exam­ines the his­to­ry of lethal injec­tions and the wide­spread use of pro­to­cols that were cre­at­ed three decades ago with no sci­en­tif­ic research. ​“The U.S. takes more care killing dogs than peo­ple. Just because a pris­on­er may have killed with­out care or con­science does not mean that the the state should fol­low suit,” notes Jamie Fellner, U.S. pro­gram direc­tor at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report.

Based on recent research sug­gest­ing that some pris­on­ers may have been inad­e­quate­ly anes­thetized dur­ing their exe­cu­tions and then expe­ri­enced sear­ing pain with­out the abil­i­ty to indi­cate their con­di­tion, Human Rights Watch is urg­ing states to halt exe­cu­tions by lethal injec­tion until a thor­ough assess­ment of exist­ing and alter­na­tive meth­ods has been con­duct­ed. The group, which oppos­es cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, notes that the cur­rent three-drug sequence used in the U.S. (sodi­um thiopen­tal, pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide, and potas­si­um chlo­ride) was devel­oped in 1977 by a med­ical exam­in­er in Oklahoma who had no exper­tise in phar­ma­col­o­gy or anes­the­sia. This same drug com­bi­na­tion is now used in at least 34 death penal­ty states. In the years since the pro­to­col’s devel­op­ment, it appears that no state has con­sult­ed med­ical experts to deter­mine whether the com­bi­na­tion could be altered to lessen the risk of pain. ​“Copycatting is not the right way to decide how to put peo­ple to death. If a state is going to exe­cute some­one, it must do its home­work, con­sult with experts, and select a method designed to inflict the least pos­si­ble pain and suf­fer­ing,” Fellner stat­ed.

This year, fed­er­al courts in California and North Caroina have refused to per­mit sched­uled exe­cu­tions to take place using the stan­dard lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. On April 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argu­ments about the pro­ce­dures a pris­on­er can fol­low to chal­lenge lethal injec­tions. Until recent­ly, the U.S. was the only coun­try in the world that used lethal injec­tion as an exe­cu­tion method. In recent years, China, Guatemala, the Philippines, and Thailand have also adopt­ed this method. (Human Rights Watch Press Release, ​“U.S.: States Negligent in Use of Lethal Injections,” April 24, 2006).

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

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