Death Penalty or Torture Penalty?
Lethal injection is the popular way of executing inmates, as it is deemed a more humane way to complete the capital punishment sentence, but recent executions suggest otherwise. Lethal injection was first used in Nazi Germany by physicians who were ordered to euthanize disabled kids. It was through the Nazi Euthanasia program; it put to death kids and adults who were considered a hindrance to their society. Poison gas soon replaced euthanasia because it was too expensive (Pickert). Lethal injection was used in the U.S. for the first time in 1976 after the death penalty had been reinstated. William Bonin was the first prisoner to be executed using lethal injection, after it was named more humane than …show more content…
The new drug is called midazolam. As stated earlier there have been three botched executions so far this year. On April 29, 2014, Clayton D. Lockett, from Oklahoma, was executed using the experimental drugs. Even after many advisory notes from defense attorneys, the state of Oklahoma proceeded with the experimental drug (Radelet). Lockett’s story is probably the most well known botched execution. It took the paramedics just under an hour to just find a suitable vein for an IV to be placed. Finally, the doctor that was present, stepped over and placed the needle in the upper thigh by the groin area. The doctor had never placed an IV there. He was not even supposed to be there that day, he was asked to take his colleague 's place just two days before. Veins located in an area like this are located deeper beneath the surface, so in order to reach it they needed to slice into his leg with a scalpel, then inserted the needle. The team proceeded to inject him with the first drug, midazolam, the replacement for the thiopental, which would take away his consciousness. Prior to his execution, he had spoken with his step-mother, and she knew that the drugs were not right. She told him to keep talking for as long as he could so they would not inject the second and third drugs before he was unconscious. That is what he did. Since midazolam was an experimental …show more content…
In a recent panic the U.S. lost access to one of the drugs, so their combination was compromised, and sent the states into a frenzy to acquire a replacement drug. A new drug was substituted for thiopental, which they no longer had access to. Midazolam was their solution, even though it is not a complete anesthetic. Executioners went ahead in using the untested formula and their incompetence in making sure death was quick and painless caused immense suffering to many prisoners. These men and women are felons, but they are still human, and no one deserves to suffer that much. That is not humane and that is not the quick, painless death penalty that was once effective. This is
Lethal injection is the popular way of executing inmates, as it is deemed a more humane way to complete the capital punishment sentence, but recent executions suggest otherwise. Lethal injection was first used in Nazi Germany by physicians who were ordered to euthanize disabled kids. It was through the Nazi Euthanasia program; it put to death kids and adults who were considered a hindrance to their society. Poison gas soon replaced euthanasia because it was too expensive (Pickert). Lethal injection was used in the U.S. for the first time in 1976 after the death penalty had been reinstated. William Bonin was the first prisoner to be executed using lethal injection, after it was named more humane than …show more content…
The new drug is called midazolam. As stated earlier there have been three botched executions so far this year. On April 29, 2014, Clayton D. Lockett, from Oklahoma, was executed using the experimental drugs. Even after many advisory notes from defense attorneys, the state of Oklahoma proceeded with the experimental drug (Radelet). Lockett’s story is probably the most well known botched execution. It took the paramedics just under an hour to just find a suitable vein for an IV to be placed. Finally, the doctor that was present, stepped over and placed the needle in the upper thigh by the groin area. The doctor had never placed an IV there. He was not even supposed to be there that day, he was asked to take his colleague 's place just two days before. Veins located in an area like this are located deeper beneath the surface, so in order to reach it they needed to slice into his leg with a scalpel, then inserted the needle. The team proceeded to inject him with the first drug, midazolam, the replacement for the thiopental, which would take away his consciousness. Prior to his execution, he had spoken with his step-mother, and she knew that the drugs were not right. She told him to keep talking for as long as he could so they would not inject the second and third drugs before he was unconscious. That is what he did. Since midazolam was an experimental …show more content…
In a recent panic the U.S. lost access to one of the drugs, so their combination was compromised, and sent the states into a frenzy to acquire a replacement drug. A new drug was substituted for thiopental, which they no longer had access to. Midazolam was their solution, even though it is not a complete anesthetic. Executioners went ahead in using the untested formula and their incompetence in making sure death was quick and painless caused immense suffering to many prisoners. These men and women are felons, but they are still human, and no one deserves to suffer that much. That is not humane and that is not the quick, painless death penalty that was once effective. This is