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Lethal Injection and the False Promise of Humane Execution
With a history marked by incompetence, political maneuvering, and secrecy, America's "most humane" execution method is anything but.
From the beginning of the Republic, this country has struggled to reconcile its use of capital punishment with the Constitution's prohibition of cruel punishment. Death penalty proponents argue both that it is justifiable as a response to particularly heinous crimes, and that it serves to deter others from committing them in the future. However, since the earliest executions, abolitionists have fought against this state-sanctioned killing, arguing, among other things, that the methods of execution have frequently been just as gruesome as the crimes meriting their use. Lethal injection was first introduced in order to quell such objections, but, as Austin Sarat shows in this brief history, its supporters' commitment to painless and humane death has never been certain.
This book tells the story of lethal injection's earliest iterations in the United States, starting with New York state's rejection of that execution method almost a century and half ago. Sarat recounts lethal injection's return in the late 1970s, and offers novel and insightful scrutiny of the new drug protocols that went into effect between 2010 and 2020. Drawing on rare data, he makes the case that lethal injections during this time only became more unreliable, inefficient, and more frequently botched. Beyond his stirring narrative history, Sarat mounts a comprehensive condemnation of the state-level maneuvering in response to such mishaps, whereby death penalty states adopted secrecy statutes and adjusted their execution protocols to make it harder to identify and observe lethal injection's flaws.
What was once touted as America's most humane execution method is now its most unreliable one. What was once a model of efficiency in the grim business of state killing is now marked by mayhem. The book concludes by critically examining the place of lethal injection, and the death penalty writ large, today.
From the beginning of the Republic, this country has struggled to reconcile its use of capital punishment with the Constitution's prohibition of cruel punishment. Death penalty proponents argue both that it is justifiable as a response to particularly heinous crimes, and that it serves to deter others from committing them in the future. However, since the earliest executions, abolitionists have fought against this state-sanctioned killing, arguing, among other things, that the methods of execution have frequently been just as gruesome as the crimes meriting their use. Lethal injection was first introduced in order to quell such objections, but, as Austin Sarat shows in this brief history, its supporters' commitment to painless and humane death has never been certain.
This book tells the story of lethal injection's earliest iterations in the United States, starting with New York state's rejection of that execution method almost a century and half ago. Sarat recounts lethal injection's return in the late 1970s, and offers novel and insightful scrutiny of the new drug protocols that went into effect between 2010 and 2020. Drawing on rare data, he makes the case that lethal injections during this time only became more unreliable, inefficient, and more frequently botched. Beyond his stirring narrative history, Sarat mounts a comprehensive condemnation of the state-level maneuvering in response to such mishaps, whereby death penalty states adopted secrecy statutes and adjusted their execution protocols to make it harder to identify and observe lethal injection's flaws.
What was once touted as America's most humane execution method is now its most unreliable one. What was once a model of efficiency in the grim business of state killing is now marked by mayhem. The book concludes by critically examining the place of lethal injection, and the death penalty writ large, today.
- GenresLawPhilosophyNonfiction
Kindle Edition
Published June 28, 2022
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About the author
Austin Sarat
248 books9 followersAustin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 11, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. It was well researched and used obtainable language to discuss the complex issues around the use of lethal injection.
One idea that stuck out the most to me was about the way that the DOC and the the state governments view executions. The idea that every execution is a one off and the process is always changing limits the ability of the government to see the pattern of botched and ultimately cruel deaths at the hand of the state. This view further enables laws and protocols to be created that keep the eye of democracy and justice off state sanctioned executions.
A second concept mentioned in the book, that sparked my thought, was about how keeping the public in the dark during and after executions enables to believe that it is humane rather than cruel. If we the people cannot see and hear the realities of state sanctioned death, how are we to determine if it is unconstitutional? How can anyone that is being shielded from reality participate in being a guardian of justice? This point was also eluded to by the fact that the execution method of hanging fell out of popularity because the public had witnessed many gruesome executions and could no longer support its use, thus demanding a change in method.
One idea that stuck out the most to me was about the way that the DOC and the the state governments view executions. The idea that every execution is a one off and the process is always changing limits the ability of the government to see the pattern of botched and ultimately cruel deaths at the hand of the state. This view further enables laws and protocols to be created that keep the eye of democracy and justice off state sanctioned executions.
A second concept mentioned in the book, that sparked my thought, was about how keeping the public in the dark during and after executions enables to believe that it is humane rather than cruel. If we the people cannot see and hear the realities of state sanctioned death, how are we to determine if it is unconstitutional? How can anyone that is being shielded from reality participate in being a guardian of justice? This point was also eluded to by the fact that the execution method of hanging fell out of popularity because the public had witnessed many gruesome executions and could no longer support its use, thus demanding a change in method.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2022
Really changed the way i think about lethal injection. Good read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews