Lethal Injection
Typical execution procedure.
The prisoner is strapped to a gurney (which is a wheeled hospital
style trolley bed) by leather or webbing straps
over the body and legs.
Their bare arms are strapped to boards projecting from the sides
of the gurney. Trained technicians then insert
a catheter into a vein in each arm, a process that sounds much
simpler than it often is. Once the catheters are in
place tubes carrying saline solution are connected to the catheter
ends and the prisoner is wheeled into the
execution chamber. When the condemned person has made any final
statement the prison warden gives the
signal for the execution to begin and the technician, hidden from
view behind a two way mirror begins to inject a
the three chemicals comprising typically 15 cc of Sodium thiopental,
15 cc of Pancuronium bromide and 15 cc
of Potassium chloride. There is a short interval between each chemical.
Sodium thiopental is a short acting barbiturate which causes unconsciousness
quite quickly. Pancuronium
bromide is a muscle relaxant that paralyses the diaphragm and thus
arrests breathing whilst Potassium chloride
finishes the job by causing cardiac arrest.
In most cases the prisoner is unconscious in about a minute and
is dead after four or five minutes, with no
obvious signs of physical suffering.
In some states a lethal injection machine is used. Fred Leuchter
has designed a fully automated lethal injection
machine that runs off a 12 volt battery that is charged up prior
to use. It injects the chemicals in the right order
and amount once the catheters are in place. This considerably assists
matters and avoids the problems of
mixing of the chemicals before hand which can lead to a reaction
causing precipitation which makes them
impossible to inject.
Missouri bought one for $40,000 after tests with a smoke test revealed
a leak in the seal around the state's gas
chamber. The machine has six syringes activated by mechanical plungers.
Three syringes hold the lethal drugs;
the other three contain harmless saline solution. Two buttons control
the machine, one for the lethal syringes and
one for the identical-looking harmless ones.
"The two executioners each press a button, and the syringes release
the drugs into the IV line," According to a
Missouri Corrections spokesman. "Neither one knows which one is
actually the executioner. The machine
actually administers the drugs."
Multiple executions
In Arkansas in 1994, prison officials, citing the disruptive impact
of executions on staff and other prisoners and
the high cost of "rehearsal time" and overtime pay, took steps
to reduce both problems by conducting multiple
executions. They carried out two unrelated executions on the night
of May 11th and a further three on August 3rd
that year with a 45 minutes interval between them so that the chamber
could be cleared between each prisoner
and to allow prison officials time to replace needles and tubes
used to administer the injection. The sheet on the
gurney was also changed between executions.
Texas has also carried out double executions. On 30th January 1995,
in that state’s first multiple execution in 44
years. 33-year-old Clifton Russell was put to death just after
midnight and Willie Williams, 38, was injected
about an hour and a half later. Texas carried out a further double
injection in 1997. (Dorsie Johnson-Bey &
Davis Losada on the 5th June)
Is lethal injection the humane alternative?
Execution by lethal injection takes much longer than any other
method 10-15 minutes being typical (In the U.K. a
hanging took around 15 seconds to carry out in the later part of
this century). Throughout this time the
condemned person is fully conscious and able to experience their
execution. They know that they will be dead
at the end of it and the fear of suffering (particularly in front
of an audience) and of the unknown is strong in most
of us. It is difficult to see therefore how it can be considered
more humane, as the prisoner is subjected to far
more mental anguish over a longer period.
It is fair to say that injection is much less dramatic than the
electric chair or hanging and probably easier for the
staff and witnesses as it looks more like a surgical procedure
than an execution. But does it cause the prisoner
less suffering overall?
When all goes well the only physical pain is the insertion of the
catheters. If the person's veins are easy to find
this can be done in a minute or so. The catheters are connected
to the saline drip and the prisoner is wheeled
into the execution chamber where they are in full view of the witnesses
and journalists. After they have made
their final statement the injection of the lethal chemicals can
begin and they will feel themselves becoming
drowsy and know that they are beginning to die.
In modern hanging they are alive one second and unconscious the
next (if everything goes to plan). It is unlikely
that they feel themselves slipping into death.
Not everyone is of the opinion that death by lethal injection is
painless - Dr. Edward Brunner, chairman of the
Department of Anaesthesia at North-western University Medical School,
submitted an affidavit on behalf of
death row inmates in Illinois in which he states that lethal injection
"create[s] the substantial risk that plaintiffs will
strangle or suffer excruciating pain during the three chemical
injections but will be prevented by the paralytic
agent from communicating their distress."
In the minds of the American public and of jurors in capital cases
the perception of lethal injection is of a clean,
clinical and painless end. This is a great advantage to the state
because the public are much more willing to
accept this form of execution and jurors more willing to convict
and pass the death sentence. The media interest
in the eventual execution is also diminished. Texas which has carried
out over a quarter of all post 1977
executions finds that there is now very little interest in them
unless the criminal is particularly notorious and thus
avoids much of the protests that attend other methods.
There was intense media interest in the hangings in Washington
and Delaware and the shootings in Utah
because these methods were perceived as old fashioned and barbaric.
Utah may well abandon shooting in favour of injection not because
either of the two shootings it has carried out
since 1977 was in anyway botched but because they were perceived
as being gruesome. It is probable that
there will be only few, if any more hangings in Washington for
the same reason.
One wonders, however, if injection is as much of a deterrent as
hanging or the electric chair, to would be
criminals or whether they feel it is a "soft option"? Interestingly
in those states that allow a choice not everyone
does choose injection.
The problem with injection.
When a person is frightened their veins contract and become hard
to find. This is even more of a problem with
people who are insulin injecting diabetics or have been intravenous
drug users as their veins are often
damaged.
This is the major problem with lethal injection and in some cases
it has been necessary to resort to a "cut down"
procedure to find a vein. This involves cutting into the prisoner's
arm (or leg) to locate a suitable vein which no
doubt causes considerable extra distress.
Botched injections.
As with the introduction of any new method, lethal injection has
not been without some seriously botched
executions some of which are examined below. It is clearly, by
no means, a fool proof method but perhaps the
learning curve has now been surmounted.
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