"In Kentucky, execution debate finds new footing," is by Brett Barrouquere's Associated Press report, via the Daily Independent of Ashland, Kentucky. Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning of this article:
With a spate of botched executions across the country this year looming over their discussion, Kentucky lawmakers are revisiting some fundamental questions about the death penalty, including whether the state should keep it on the books.
Along with activists on both sides, a joint committee of 32 state representatives and senators planned to meet Friday in Paducah for a forum on whether executions should have a place in Kentucky’s criminal justice system.
Kentucky is a long way from becoming a rare Southern state without capital punishment. This gathering cannot set policies or make official recommendations, and efforts to repeal the death penalty haven’t gotten off the ground in recent attempts in the General Assembly.
The public hearing, however, is the first of its kind since Kentucky reinstated the death penalty in 1975, a four-decade stretch during which the state has executed three men, with 34 more people on death row.
The Rev. Pat Delahanty, a Roman Catholic priest who heads the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said that in his 25 years of anti-capital punishment work, this is the first time lawmakers given the issue such serious attention.
Kentucky has been under a court order since 2010 stopping all executions because of questions about how the state carries out the process, concerns that mirror those around the country over the sources, combinations, and methods of administering lethal drugs.
A shorter version is, "Debate Over Kentucky Executions Begins Again," via WKYU-FM.
Kentucky lawmakers are set to embark on a discussion of whether executions should have a place in Kentucky's criminal justice system and, if so, how should it be carried out. The Joint Legislative Committee hearing set for Friday morning in Paducah comes amid the backdrop of a spate of botched executions around the country this year.
Earlier coverage from Kentucky begins at the link.
Comments