Last month, the Supreme Court voted against banning the current three-drug cocktail used in lethal injections. Pending the Court's decision, executions around the nation had been put on hold.
But the Supremes decided that it's fine to use a method that might cause unnecessary excruciating pain (and which is so questionable that it does not meet the minimum standards for veterinary euthanasia in most states). So now several states are wasting no time in readying the death chambers and rescheduling their executions.
• Tonight, May 21, 6:00 PM EDT: Earl Wesley Berry is scheduled to be killed by the people of Mississippi, despite evidence that he is mentally retarded. (Judicial review of the evidence was denied because his former lawyers didn't file the evidence in a timely fashion.) Note that the Supreme Court banned execution of mentally retarded persons in 2002.
• May 22, 7:00 PM EDT: Samuel David Crowe is scheduled to be killed by the people of Georgia.
• May 27, 9:00 PM EDT: Kevin Green is scheduled to be killed by the people of Virginia.
• June 03, 7:00 PM EDT: Derrick Sonnier is scheduled to be killed by the people of Texas.
• June 06, 6:00 PM EDT: David Mark Hill will be voluntarily executed, with his suicide assisted by the people of South Carolina.
• June 10, 9:00 PM EDT: Percy Walton is scheduled to be killed by the people of Virginia.
• June 11, 7:00 PM EDT: Karl Chamberlain is scheduled to be killed by the people of Texas.
• June 17, 6:00 PM EDT: Terry Lyn Short is scheduled to be killed by the people of Oklahoma.
• June 17, 7:00 PM EDT: Charles Dean Hood is scheduled to be killed by the people of Texas.
• June 25, 9:00 PM EDT: Robert Yarbrough is scheduled to be killed by the people of Virginia.
And there are many more deaths on the schedule through the end of the year, and several others on the soon-to-be-scheduled list.
The U.S. is one of the few industrialized nations that still use the death penalty. Most of the civilized world has rejected the death penalty as cruel and unusual.
The death penalty is not an effective deterrent. In fact, states without the death penalty have much lower murder rates.
And studies have shown that the sentencing process is racially biased, with an African-American defendant having a far greater chance of being sentenced to death than a white defendant, for the same crime.
To add insult to injury, most defendants in capital cases have inadequate defense counsel. Good lawyers cost money. So the so-called "justice" system is skewed in favor of the folks who can buy the good lawyers. You don't see many rich white guys on death row.
Still, 63 percent of Americans still support its use.
Why are Americans so bloodthirsty? Why not just lock up the bad guys for life (without parole), and let them spend every day thinking about it?
Why do so many Americans seek revenge over actual justice?
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