Dr. Allen Ault, the former warden for Georgia’s executions, recently spoke about the lingering psychological effects of carrying out the death penalty. Ault, who retired in 1995, said, “I still have nightmares. [Execution is] the most premeditated form of murder you can possibly imagine and it stays in your psyche forever.” He said he felt guilt after the electrocution of a mentally disabled juvenile offender, who developed a deep sense of contrition during his 17 years on death row and whose last words to Ault were “please forgive me.” “No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a life-long sentence of nagging doubt, shame and guilt,” Ault said. He also said the death penalty was plagued with racial disparities.
(S. Sackur, “Electric chair haunts US former executions chief,” BBC News, February 22, 2014). See New Voices and Race.
