Death Penalty Update

It’s been a while since I’ve done a general death penalty post. Well, 2007 is off and running. There have been five executions already, one in Oklahoma and four, yeah, that’s right, FOUR, in Texas. Do you suppose they drink different water in Texas or what?

Rick Halperin, at his Death Penalty News & Updates site at SMU, reports that another 21 executions, including 9 in Texas, were scheduled around the country between now and mid-August. I say “were” because five of those were in Tennessee and Governor Phil Bredesen has now placed all executions there on hold because of problems with the state’s “Manual for Execution” which, among other idiocies, contained instructions that the condemned prisoner’s head be shaved. Tennessee uses lethal injection. Where were they thinking of inserting the needle if they have to shave the head?

Around the country, two states, Illinois and New Jersey, have formal moratoriums on executions in place. One state, New York, has had its death penalty declared unconstitutional since 2004 and appears to be in no rush to reinstate it. Ten states, including California, Florida and Ohio, have executions effectively halted due to legal issues with lethal injection procedures. Twelve states are considering either abolishing capital punishment or declaring a formal moratorium. The states most likely to abolish the death penalty in the near future are New Jersey, where a special committee has recommended abolition by an overwhelming 12-1 margin, Nebraska, whose judiciary committee unanimously approved moving an abolition measure to the senate floor and Colorado, whose judiciary committee passed an abolition resolution by a vote of 7-4.

On a sour note, five states, including Texas of course, are considering expanding the application of the death penalty! Four of these states, Texas, Missouri, Virginia and Georgia are in the south. The fifth is Utah which I’m not 100% certain is a part of the United States anyway. Actually, I suspect Utah is really a myth. I mean, has anyone actually ever met someone from Utah?