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Don't let execution enter shadows
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 14, 2015
Virginia lawmakers are coalescing in bipartisan fashion around a terrible idea.
That's not necessarily new, but the consequence of the plan embodied in SB1393
effectively seals critical information about the government's use of lethal injection
on behalf of Virginians.
It's wrong, and the twisted rationale offered by defenders, including the bill's patron,
Democratic Sen. Dick Saslaw, underscores its moral bankruptcy.
The use of lethal injection has grown complicated in recent years, as overseas
manufacturers have refused to sell their drugs for use in executions. That's led
states to use cocktails that have had barbaric effects: inmates wheezing and
writhing, in some cases for more than an hour, before finally succumbing.
Those prolonged deaths might be perfectly acceptable in places like Saudi Arabia
or China, but they appear to conflict mightily with the U.S. Constitution's Eighth
Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Sealing details about the compounding of drugs used for execution could prevent
that issue from being fully explored, as state Sen. John Edwards, an attorney,
argued to his colleagues. In other words, the bill's purpose runs counter to
fundamental principles of an open and civilized society.
Sadly, the proposal's chief supporters sidestep the point. "Ultimately," Saslaw said,
“if we don't solve this problem, we're going to go back to the electric chair."
But the chair is its own form of brutality, a method that has yielded lengthy,
gruesome executions, too. That's why it was largely abandoned in favor of the
quieter deaths wrought by a drug no longer available.
The death penalty is declining in the U.S., and the recent controversies threaten to
end the practice. Last year, 35 people were executed in the U.S., the fewest since
1994.
More importantly, however, seven death row inmates were exonerated and
released. This point, inconvenient to death-penalty supporters, highlights concerns
that perhaps government, which sometimes struggles even to build a website or
negotiate decent contracts, also occasionally fails to obtain justice. It sometimes
condemns the wrong person.
The last thing anyone - in Virginia or elsewhere in the U.S. - should want is for
government to be able to hide details that undercut principles embedded in the
nation's founding document.
This bill should be tabled indefinitely.
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