Do execution headaches impact where capital debates are headed?

January 16, 2007

Do execution headaches impact where capital debates are headed?

These are heady times for botched executions: as detailed here, the recent ugly hanging in Iraq continues to make headlines; as detailed here, condemned prisoners in the US continue to make headway arguing that lethal injection protocols are unconstitutional. But I continue to wonder whether all the execution headaches will in any way impact where debates over the death penalty may be headed.

Are heads of state influenced by these developments or are they too headstrong to be influenced by all the headlines? Do botched executions shine a headlight on broader death penalty issues or do they provide little reason to stall a headlong pursuit of capital justice?

January 16, 2007 at 08:47 AM | Permalink

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Comments

What botches do is remind foreign gov'ts & abolitionist states why they don't have the death penalty. Specifically, the recent botches has caused our European friends to remind us that state killing is viewed by almost all of Christiandom as immoral & another reason why we are growingly more estranged from our the European community.

Posted by: anony | Jan 16, 2007 8:53:46 AM

If we truly think that these people deserve to die, why should the "headaches" matter? If these are the worst of the worst of humanity, what difference does it make that lethal injections are not always painless and hangings don't always leave the head attached?

Posted by: | Jan 16, 2007 9:51:25 AM