The Death Penalty Today

The death penalty to this day is still a hot topic across the United States. Many States are still having debates about whether the death penalty is constitutional or not. In Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced that eight inmates on death row in the state will be executed in a 10-day span, with the first inmate being executed on April 17th, the first in Arkansas since 2005. This many executions in such a short time span in one state has never been done before. The governor stated that the timing was "not my choice" (qtd. in Daniels 1) and that "If we do not set the execution dates, that will not trigger a review and we'll never bring finality to this long and arduous process that really is so difficult on the victims and their families."(1) However, it is believed that they are rushing the executions due to a lack of execution drugs. According to reports from the New York Times, their Midazolam supply will expire by the end of April. Midazolam is a sedative used in a drug cocktail for executions in certain states across the US. Whether Midazolam is constitutionally acceptable or not is currently being debated in the state of Ohio, with attorneys representing inmates currently on death row. A stay of execution was issued for the three upcoming inmates, after the attorneys argued that using the drug violated the inmate's eighth amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. This issue came to light due to the execution of Dennis McGuire on January 16, 2014. The drug Midazolam was used for the execution, and Alan Johnson, a reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, testified that McGuire "began coughing, gasping, choking in a way that I had not seen before at any execution. And I remember it because I relived it several times. Frankly, that went on for 12 to 13 minutes." (qtd. in Daniels, 2) The issue of Midazolam has even made it to the Supreme Court several times, with the court ruling in 2015 that using Midazolam did not violate the inmate's eighth amendment rights. The issue still keeps trying to make it's way back, but the Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving the stay of execution of Thomas Arthur in Alabama. In Montana, bills were passed through the state house which would end the use of the death penalty, just like they had every year since 1999, and just like every year since 1999, the bill was turned down.

Works Cited

Daniels, Kristen Whitney. "States Debate Death Penalty Issues." National Catholic Reporter, vol. 53, no. 12, 24 Mar. 2017, pp. 1-4. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=122036914&site=ehost-live.