Deathwatching

This is the first post in a series to discuss lethal injection as a humane method of execution.

Currently, several states are practising a de facto moratorium on executions due to doubts about the efficacy of the chemical cocktail administered, both its adequacy for the job, and the qualifications of the personnel present to monitor the experience of the condemned person being executed to ensure that the execution could not be defined as cruel under the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. In this series of posts I want to investigate the search for humane methods of execution, the execution protocol, evidence of botching, the nature of the choice prisoners make when methods in their state change and they are allowed to choose the method by which they will be executed, and some of the evidence from Oregon related to this issue including perspectives gleaned from the Listening Project.

I will welcome questions and comments.