Capital Punishment in the News

03/15/11



Illinois is the 16^th state to ban capital punishment and the new law follows a decade long moratorium on the practice first put into place by former Governor George Ryan. 15 inmates were on death row, and their sentences have now been commuted. The moratorium was put in place after thirteen inmates were freed based on findings of innocence, prompting then Governor Ryan to halt the practice until a commission could find new ways to ensure the integrity of the system. Current Governor Pat Quinn said in his campaign that he would keep the moratorium in place but also said the he was in favor of capital punishment in general. Critics are crying foul, saying that signing the law amounts to a broken campaign promise.

Ohio is the second state to use pentobarbital as the euthanizing agent in a lethal injection. Oklahoma switched to the drug after its supply of sodium thiopental was disrupted, due to legal challenges in the UK. The drug is in short supply and British company Archimedes Pharma UK faced legal action after drugs that it manufactured were used to execute a prisoner in Arizona last year. The company claimed that the drugs were purchased through a middleman and were not intentionally supplied for executions. Ohio's supplier of the drug, Hospira, halted manufacture after Italy objected. Hospira is planning to relocate to Italy and the death penalty is banned in the EU.

With two states having successfully used pentobarbital, it's likely that other states will follow suit if they are unable to obtain a regular supply of sodium thiopental. California has enough thiopental for four executions, probably also obtained from Archimedes Pharma, but currently has the largest death row population with some 700 inmates.

Opponents of the death penalty tried to block the use of the drug on new executions, claiming that it could lead to a torturous death in violation of the 8^th amendment. However, the drug is commonly used, both legally and illegally, in assisted suicides both in the US and overseas. Oregon, the only US state to recognize the right to terminate one's own life and Holland both use pentobarbital for this purpose. It's also commonly bought via mail order from Mexican pharmacies for use in illegal assisted suicides. Recreationally, the drug is a barbiturate often called ''yellow jackets''. Marilyn Monroe's autopsy revealed that her death was the result of overdosing on 47 pentobarbital capsules.