![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgHere's Why We Can't Forget About America's Death Penalty Battle:
tpfnews:
On Thursday, Smith was executed in a manner that likely violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The drug that was supposed to render him unconscious for his lethal cocktail, midazolam, clearly did not have its intended effect.
For the next 13 minutes Smith struggled for breath, heaved, and coughed on the execution table, according tothose that were there, with no attempts to halt the procedure.
Advocates against the death penalty point to botched executions like Smith’s and more than 100 death row exonerations as evidence that the practice is, among other things, too flawed to be carried out.
While proponents of the death penalty believe that it can serve as a powerful deterrent to would-be criminals and a source of justice to their victims or their victims’ families, others aren’t so sure.
In addition to the District of Columbia, 19 states have banned the death penalty. Some groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, consider the entire practice to violate the Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel” punishment and note that it is more costly - and sometimes more permanent - than life in prison.
Not in my name.
http://ift.tt/2gu2XVT
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2hxDsbj
via IFTTT
tpfnews:
On Thursday, Smith was executed in a manner that likely violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The drug that was supposed to render him unconscious for his lethal cocktail, midazolam, clearly did not have its intended effect.
For the next 13 minutes Smith struggled for breath, heaved, and coughed on the execution table, according tothose that were there, with no attempts to halt the procedure.
Advocates against the death penalty point to botched executions like Smith’s and more than 100 death row exonerations as evidence that the practice is, among other things, too flawed to be carried out.
While proponents of the death penalty believe that it can serve as a powerful deterrent to would-be criminals and a source of justice to their victims or their victims’ families, others aren’t so sure.
In addition to the District of Columbia, 19 states have banned the death penalty. Some groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, consider the entire practice to violate the Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel” punishment and note that it is more costly - and sometimes more permanent - than life in prison.
Not in my name.
http://ift.tt/2gu2XVT
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2hxDsbj
via IFTTT
