10/13/2016 Editorial: Drug costs enter death penalty debate - Fredericksburg.com: Editorials
Editorial: Drug costs enter death penalty debate
Story Comments
WCAV - Charlottesville, VA
Print Font Size:
ee ¥
Buy this photo
Autoplay: On | Off
Posted: Thursday, October 13, 2016 12:00 am
BY THE EDITORIAL PAGE STAFF OF THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Virginia corrections officials say they’ve agreed to pay a drug supplier
$16,500 per execution for the first of three drugs the state uses in its lethal
injection cocktail. That’s way, way more than it would have cost just a year
ago.
But wait, Dep of C k Lisa Kinney told the
Richmond Times Dispatch that ifthe a agency proceeded to obtain the other
two required drugs from the same supplier, the cost would bump up another
$33,000, which comes out to another $16,500 each. She also says the state
currently has sufficient drugs to carry out one execution.
The first drug, a sedative, is preferably midazolam, but could also be
pentobarbital or sodium thiopental. Last year, the cost of that initial drug
was about $525 per execution, and just $250 the two years before that. How interesting that the same drug costs more than 30 times
more this year than it did a year ago. How interesting that the other two drugs, potassium chloride (used second) and rocuronium,
bromide (used third), would triple the cost exactly.
This price increase comes in the wake of legislation signed this spring by Gov. Terry McAuliffe that allows the name of the drug
manufacturer to remain secret. That apparently not only allows the maker to avoid the public relations dilemma of supplying drugs
that are used to kill rather than heal, it also allows them to jack up the prices of those drugs in anonymity.
The legislation was the result ofa deal between McAuliffe, who opposes use of the electric chair, and Virginia lawmakers, who sent
him legislation that would require the state to use electrocution if the injection drugs were unavailable. The only way to get the drugs
e
nter-death-penalty ticle_ 85cce9e4-bd11-5303-b48e-27a4cc66f11f.htm!
httpyAvww freder
dr
Ig:
y
10/13/2016 Editorial: Drug costs enter death penalty debate - Fredericksburg.com: Editorials
is to agree to the secrecy.
Say what you will about capital punishment, but it remains the law in Virginia. And as long as it does, every aspect of it will remain
controversial.
Is it inhumane? Does it qualify as cruel and unusual punishment? Does it continue to have the deterrent effect that is its reason for
being?
It’s worth noting that 20 death-row inmates across the country, including one in Virginia, have been exonerated by DNA evidence
since 1993. Unlike life imprisonment without parole, a death penalty mistake cannot be undone.
That is just the beginning of the argument. Aside from the debate over whether it should be used at all, there are the practical issues
over how the death penalty is administered and the procedure used. Virginia gives the condemned inmate a choice between
electrocution and lethal injection. However, since lethal injection was introduced in Virginia in January 1995, electrocution has been
used in only six of the 87 executions.
In recent years, injection drugs have become harder for the 30 death-penalty states to obtain in part because the drug manufacturers,
especially those in Europe where capital punishment has been nearly abolished, don’t want to be associated with putting people to
death. Some states have tried a single-drug regimen—basically overdosing the inmate with the sedative—and in some cases the
inmate has writhed and gagged in pain, with death coming only after an unexpectedly long period.
As the drugs have become more scarce and public opinion polls have shown Americans now leaning against capital punishment,
Virginia’s execution rate has slowed. It has executed no one so far in 2016 and has carried out the death penalty only three times in
the past five years—once by electrocution and twice by lethal injection.
Virginia ranked second to Texas in total executions since 1976 until last year, when Oklahoma took over as No. 2.
Currently there are seven inmates on Virginia’s death row. Though no executions are scheduled, the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to
hear appeals for two of those inmates could mean they will be scheduled soon.
Cost comparisons between executing inmates and sentencing them to life without parole have found that execution actually costs
more largely because of the legal expenses that begin to mount the moment the prosecution says it will seek the death penalty. The
initial trial, subsequent required appeals and heightened incarceration security for as long as the process takes are all more expensive
than they are in a non-death penalty case.
Now, the cost of the lethal injection drugs would apparently add significantly to that.
Eyen if executions are less frequent now, the cost of capital punishment remains an issue. This situation highlights why government
should operate transparently so taxpayers know how their money is being spent.
http:/www.fredericksburg. drug-costs-enter-death-penalty-« ticle 85cce9e4-bd11-5303-b48e-27a4cc66f11f.htm!
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0