Journalist Raymond Bonner has posted, "In Texas, a Brave, New Lethal Injection." at the Atlantic. Here's the beginning:
Texas prison officials are about to carry out an execution with a combination of drugs and procedures that they have not used before, and that a veterinarian is proscribed from using when terminating an animal's life.
In order to minimize pain and suffering of animals being put to sleep, Texas has adopted detailed regulations. Only a licensed veterinarian may administer the drugs, the dosage is determined by the animal's weight, and even the lighting in the room is regulated by law.
When it comes to carrying out executions of death-row inmates, however, the state does not take the same care. The Texas legislature has given the director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice the absolute power to decide on the drugs used and how they will be administered. The current director is a former corrections officer with no training in anesthesiology, pharmacology, or science.
"Death-row inmates appear to have fewer rights than domesticated animals," concludes a study released on Sunday, "Regulating Death in the Lone Star State: Texas Law Protects Lizards from Needless Suffering, But Not Human Beings" (PDF). The 10-page report was written by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, and the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law.
More on the report, Regulating Death, at the link; earlier reporting by Bonner is also available.
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