Current Event 9: Oklahoma's botched lethal injection starts new front in battle over executions

CACorrections. "Lethal Injection Room." Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. MediaWiki, 3 Aug 2010. Web. 30 Apr 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SQ_Lethal_Injection_Room.jpg> 

Lethal injections are in the spotlight after an Oklahoma man's death sentence took a grave turn. Clayton Lockett was supposed to executed by lethal injection Tuesday in Oklahoma but something went terribly wrong. The first drug used to make inmates unconscious in a matter of minutes was not working after about fifteen minutes. Prison officials say they stopped the injection and Lockett lived for about another hour be forte he died of a massive heart attack according to the prison. Lockett's lawyers are outraged by the process and want a full investigation to why Lockett's injection was botched.




In the POL 120 class juniors take. we have to write a paper on a big political issue in the United States, I chose to do lethal injection. Through my research, I found many different cases where injections were botched and the inmate suffered serious pain. The only way lethal injections are still legal in the U.S. is because of the first drug used to knock the inmate out. If this drug does not work correctly the death penalty is rendered cruel and unusual, a violation of the 8th amendment.




I think the way the way this inmate died was very sad and traumatic for the staff, press, and family of the victim. I support the death penalty but only in extreme cases. The inmate was convicted of murder and rape; grounds for the death penalty in my eyes. I do, however, realize this man died in such agony that the country needs to look at a better way of administering the injection so botched injections like these do not happen again.





What is the impact of using [statistics/quotations/headings/bullets/personal experience] (choose one of the options and write only on it.) If you have another element that you would like to discuss on this question, get the okay from me before proceeding. Use evidence from the selection to support your answer.

The author uses several eyewitness quotes from not only Lockett's execution but another man named Dennis McGuire in Ohio. Startling evidence that the drugs do not work sometimes are used within the quotes. McGuire was said to have"'repeated cycles of snorting, gurgling and arching his back, appearing to writhe in pain"' during his execution; his family filed a lawsuit against the prison for cruel an unusual punishment. The botched injection has opened up the new, stronger barrage to abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma. Adam Leathers, the co-chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, has jumped into action over Lockett's injection. Oklahoma "'tortured a human being in an unconstitutional experimental act of evil,"' said Leathers after word of the botched execution got out. This and the many other cases of botched injections just might win the fight to end all death penalty rulings forever.

Works Cited

Levs, Josh, et al. "Oklahoma's botched lethal injection starts new front in the battle over executions." CNN U.S.. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 30 Apr 2014. Web. 30 Apr 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/us/oklahoma-botched-execution/index.html?hpt=hp_t1>