WHAT NEXT?

Just a few months ago I wrote a reminder of things I had said some years ago about the death penalty when Timothy McVeigh was about to be executed in the United States for the Oklahoma bombing.  I have never been in favour of the death penalty under any circumstances and have so often spoken out against the practice.  I am firmly of the opinion that the often quoted "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" means there should be justice for a crime committed - but not that another life should be taken.

Unfortunately, the United States - though considering itself the leader of the world - is still one of the (thankfully) declining number of countries that practices the use of the death penalty.  Although having said that - many States in the country have stopped the practice.  Texas seems to be one state that seems to revel in the practice because for many years it has had the highest number of executions each year.  Although the "authorities" constantly complain about the number of executions in China and Saudi Arabia - and I am by no means condoning them - one should take notice that America is high on the list of those countries with the most executions.

Last week the U.S. State of Georgia executed a man by the name of Andrew De Young for the murder of his parents and sister in 1993.  The event passed with little attention given to it by the media, but it was a unique and in my opinion, a grim event.

Mr. De Young was to be put to death by a method often used now in the United States - lethal injection while the prisoner is strapped to a gurney-like contraption.   A "cocktail" of three drugs is injected into the person's veins.  The first as a type of anaesthetic, the second to paralyse the person and the third to stop the heart.

In most cases the first drug has been one called sodium thiopental.  However the manufacturer has apparently stopped manufacturing this particular drug so there is a national shortage.  The result is that the U.S. State of Georgia had a new lethal cocktail of drugs made replacing the sodium thiopental with another called pentobarbital.   This is an anaesthetic sometimes used when putting animals to sleep.   It had been used at least once before in an execution, but several comments were made by those present at those events, that it seemed as if the person being executed was not totally sedated and was suffering unnecessary pain.

The Supreme Court of Georgia denied Mr. De Young's motion for the authorities to look again at a lower courts decision to replace sodium thiopental with this pentobarbital.  But the lower court even went further.   At the request of another inmate still on death row, the lower court approved a request by that inmate that Mr. De Young's execution be video taped so people - and in particuar the lawyer of the inmate - can witness and view the reaction of Mr. De Young to this new mix of lethal drugs.  In other words, the lower court approved of Mr. De Young being used as a guinea pig for research.

A couple of thoughts come to my mind over this.  First of all I ask what exactly is what is known as "cruel and unusual punishment"?  Does not someone being used as a guinea pig at the time of their execution not come under that category?  I would think it does.  The Government makes much of the fact that certain drugs that could heal diseases such as cancer and the like must be withheld for complete testing.  Then why does it allow a drug that is not fully tested for use in executions be used for that purpose.  Something hypocritical and wrong here.

Another thought in the same vein.  When Mr. De Youg's motion for the drug re-testing was put before the State Supreme Court, his execution had to be delayed twenty-four hours in order for the Justices to make their decision.  No problem with that.  However, the following day just minutes before the next hour of execution, the authorities again delayed the execution for a further twenty-four hours.  Why?  For the simple and ridiculous reason that they couldn't make up their minds as to the best place to put the video camera!!!!  So Mr. De Young was once more taken back to the waiting cell until the next day.  To me that could also be categorized as "cruel and unusual punishment".    But the media barely gave a mention to all of this and unless you read it a second time you might not even have noticed it.  What did get an entire paragraph though, was what Mr. De Young had for his last meal!!!   Where are people's priorities? 

And one last question.  When Mr. McVeigh was about to be executed a request was made for the execution to be video taped but a judge rightly dismissed the request saying it would in no time be posted all over the internet - and he was right.  So it never happpened.  We are now many years on since then and it is much easier for anyone to post anything on the internet.  How long will it take for that video of Mr. De Young's execution be available for all - young and old alike - to be seen on the internet.  Not very long, I fear.  Society is definitely going "down hill" fast.  The mind boggles at the thought of what will be next if this type of thing is allowed to continue.  I hope others speak out about this also - including those in authority in the Churches.

The authorities of the State of Georgia need to revise their thinking on these matters which currently seems to be back in the Middle Ages and certainly not that of a civilized nation.