Execute 'em already
K.C. Vetter
Issue date: 12/5/05 Section: Opinion
Last Friday the United States "celebrated" its 1,000th execution when Kenneth Lee Boyd was executed Friday by lethal injection for the double murder of his estranged wife and her father.
Many people probably agreed with Kate Allen, director of Amnesty's International United Kingdom, when she said "It is extremely shocking that the USA has executed its 1,000th prisoner in modern time." My thoughts, however, were more along the lines of "That's it?"
One thousand executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 seems like an unbelievably small number. That averages to about 34.5 executions per year. The death penalty was reinstated for a reason: to execute people for their crimes. If more people are dying while waiting on death row than by actual execution, something needs to be changed.
According to www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, as of Oct. 1, there are 3,383 inmates on death row, 648 in California alone. Most inmates spend over a decade on death row awaiting execution. Some even wait more than 20 years. Boyd waited 17 years before he was executed.
The most popular method of execution in the U.S. today is lethal injection. Electrocution is also still used, as well as gas chambers. Hanging is even still an option in Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington.Interestingly enough, many inmates are given a choice as to their method of execution. Many choose lethal injection and I don't blame them; that'd be my choice too.
With lethal injection, the orderly or technician (because it is medically unethical for doctors to participate) injects the inmate with sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. Then either pavulon or pancuronium to paralyze the muscle system and stops the inmate's breathing and then potassium chloride is administered to stop the heart.
The short version? The inmate doesn't feel a thing except the initial poke of the IV needle (which, by the way, was sterilized with alcohol, because we don't want them to get infected!). The only way they would be in any pain would be if the administer screws up.
Many people probably agreed with Kate Allen, director of Amnesty's International United Kingdom, when she said "It is extremely shocking that the USA has executed its 1,000th prisoner in modern time." My thoughts, however, were more along the lines of "That's it?"
One thousand executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 seems like an unbelievably small number. That averages to about 34.5 executions per year. The death penalty was reinstated for a reason: to execute people for their crimes. If more people are dying while waiting on death row than by actual execution, something needs to be changed.
According to www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, as of Oct. 1, there are 3,383 inmates on death row, 648 in California alone. Most inmates spend over a decade on death row awaiting execution. Some even wait more than 20 years. Boyd waited 17 years before he was executed.
The most popular method of execution in the U.S. today is lethal injection. Electrocution is also still used, as well as gas chambers. Hanging is even still an option in Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington.Interestingly enough, many inmates are given a choice as to their method of execution. Many choose lethal injection and I don't blame them; that'd be my choice too.
With lethal injection, the orderly or technician (because it is medically unethical for doctors to participate) injects the inmate with sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. Then either pavulon or pancuronium to paralyze the muscle system and stops the inmate's breathing and then potassium chloride is administered to stop the heart.
The short version? The inmate doesn't feel a thing except the initial poke of the IV needle (which, by the way, was sterilized with alcohol, because we don't want them to get infected!). The only way they would be in any pain would be if the administer screws up.
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