"A moral oxymoron," is the editorial in today's Baltimore Sun. It's subtitled, "No amount of tinkering will fix the state's flawed death penalty law."
The fundamental question to be asked about the "serious flaws" that a legislative panel reviewing Maryland's death penalty protocols has found in how the state executes condemned inmates is this: Are there substantive ethical and legal problems with the procedure that require further study before executions can proceed, as panel members insist? Or is the finding merely an excuse to extend the de facto moratorium on executions that has existed since 2006, as death penalty supporters argue?
The Maryland General assembly has repeatedly refused to outlaw capital punishment, most recently this year, when lawmakers approved a compromise that limited the death penalty to cases in which there is either biological or DNA evidence of guilt, a videotaped confession or a videotape linking the defendant to the crime. The compromise left Maryland with one of the most restrictive capital punishment laws in the nation.
But that is not why the state has not proceeded with the executions of the five inmates currently on Maryland's death row. In 2006 the Maryland Court of Appeals halted executions after finding that the process the state used to adopt procedures for administering lethal injections was flawed. The court left it to the administration of Gov. Martin O'Malley - a death penalty opponent - to remedy that, but Mr. O'Malley did not do so until this year. Now an administration spokesman says executions won't resume until the problems in the new regulations are resolved.
And:
That leaves the Mr. O'Malley a choice. He can enact regulations for capital punishment, despite legitimate misgivings about them. He can hide behind the review panel's recommendations and allow it to drag matters out indefinitely. Or he can take the intellectually honest approach and commute the sentences of those on death row to life without the possibility of parole. If Mr. O'Malley truly believes the death penalty is wrong as a matter of law and morality, he already has the power to end the practice under his administration whenever he wishes.
"Cruel Punishment," is the title of the editorial in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.
The latest botched execution in Ohio should draw attention to Pennsylvania's lethal-injection procedures.
Both states administer a series of three drugs intravenously to execute inmates, but Ohio has halted its executions temporarily. Gov. Ted Strickland took the extraordinary step after a failed execution that would meet anyone's definition of "cruel and unusual."
And:
Ohio officials say they are looking at ways to adjust their procedures, possibly including injecting the drugs into inmates' bone marrow or muscles as an alternative.
A spokesman for Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections said it reviewed its procedures "a while ago" and has no plans to do so again. Given what has happened in Ohio, that's not much assurance that the same thing won't occur here.
Of course, the best course would be to replace executions with life in prison, like New Jersey, which abolished the death penalty in 2007. There are 226 inmates on death row in Pennsylvania, which has not carried out an execution since 1999.
Beyond the concerns raised in Ohio, there are still questions about whether the lethal-injection procedure causes a pain-free death. There have been many examples of executions suggesting that the condemned are in excruciating pain because the first drug, intended to render the inmate unconscious, wore off.
A federal lawsuit in Philadelphia filed in 2007 on behalf of death-row inmates claims that Pennsylvania has failed to adequately train executioners or assure that condemned inmates receive the proper dosage of sodium pentothal anesthetic, which prevents extreme pain during execution. A judge recently dismissed the state's motion to throw out the case.
The Inquirer has long been opposed to the death penalty. DNA evidence that has proven that a number of death-row prisoners and other inmates were wrongly convicted is a compelling reason to end the killing.
In states where executions are still carried out, officials at the very, very least have an obligation to ensure that the procedure does not amount to torture.
Earlier coverage from Maryland is here, the Ohio botch, here, and Pennsylvania here. Related commentary in the editorial category index.
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