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Questions on the Death Penalty

From Holly, Danielson CT:

Although I am opposed to the death penalty, since it is still a law in the US, why aren't there measures to abolish the electric chair, which is a hideous way to die? Why don't we have a uniform policy of lethal injection, or better yet, no death penalty at all?

Rick Halperin, Amnesty's State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Texas and death penalty expert, responds.

Dear Holly,

Thank you for your question. Currently, the electric chair, as the sole method of execution, is used only in Nebraska. All other states have switched from any other method of execution (gas chamber, firing squad, hanging) to lethal injection. These states have decided, albeit incorrectly, that lethal injection is a more "humane" way to kill condemned prisoners.

This is a myth and a lie, however. The US Supreme Court has never declared that any particular method of execution is unconstitutional, so all are still valid (and used). But most states (except Nebraska to this point) feared that the US Court would eventually declare unconstitutional any of the other methods of killing except lethal injection, and thus, to be prepared to continue executing condemned prisoners, states added lethal injection to their repertoire of killing methods.

Currently, death row inmates who were sentenced to be executed by hanging, firing squad, gassing and electrocution, almost always have the option to pick the method which was in place at the time of their sentencing, or to choose lethal injection. Hence, America will still have a few non-lethal injection executions in the years to come, though there is now a move in some states to totally eliminate a choice of execution methods, and to rely solely on lethal injection. In essence, overwhelmingly, the most common method of execution in the US, now used in 37 states, and also by the federal government and US military, is lethal injection. Some states have indeed "retired" (i.e.---stopped using) their electric chairs, gas chambers, etc.

I might add that there are now several challenges to the method of lethal injection itself, and at some point, it too will be found to be abhorrent and unacceptable.

Sincerely,
Rick Halperin
SDPAC, TEXASCharlie Wilton

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• About the Death Penalty