For 30 years, Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate, awaited her execution. On Sept. 30th, the day came and Pike was given two doses of the lethal drug Pentobarbital. Shockingly, Pike did not die.
According to a statementmade by the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is “the first person to survive being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.” Pike was transported to a hospital where she remained unconscious until Tuesday, when her lawyers announced she was awake and speaking. The fiasco of Pike’s failed execution is a prime example of why the death penalty needs to be abolished.
The question of whether inmates on death row deserve to die for what they have done is irrelevant to the conversation regarding the legality of the death penalty. To put it simply, the risk is not worth the reward. Pike’s case was a special circumstance, and highly unusual, but there have been other botched executions.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, between the years 1890 to 2010 7.2% of lethal injection executions were botched, whereas only 3.2% of all execution methods combined were botched. Lethal injection had the highest rate of mishandled executions. After 2010, lethal injection became the primary execution method in every state except for two: South Carolina and Idaho. Since 2010 the botched rate of executions by lethal injection has risento 8%.
The rise in botched lethal injections is attributed to major pharmaceutical companies' refusal to sell their drugs for the use of capital punishment. This led to a shortage of the drugs, causing states to look elsewhere to obtain it.
Compounding pharmacies became a primary source for many states. Compounding pharmacies combine, alter or mix drugs typically for individual patients with special circumstances such as allergies. The United States Food and Drug Administration does not approve of drugs made by these pharmacies.
Furthermore, the American Medical Association stated physicians should not participate in legally authorized executions. The American Nurses Association and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians hold similar beliefs. Due to this, states have experienced a shortage in medical professionals willing to administer lethal drugs. The people who administer the drug are a mystery as identities are kept secret.
All of this to say, lethal injection is highly mysterious and unreliable. Without FDA-approved drugs and certified medical personnel, the procedure is bound to go wrong every once in a while, this already far too many times. Lethal injection is painful, but a botched one is torture.
The death penalty is also highly expensive. It is estimated to cost taxpayers two to five times more than life in prison, but if an execution is botched, it costs even more, triggering complicated legal investigations and court proceedings, potentially costing the state millions of taxpayer dollars. There is no reason to execute inmates for such a high cost considering the risks when life in prison is an option.
It is also important to recognize innocent people have been put on death row. There have been 203 exonerations of inmates on death row since 1973. For every eight people executed, one person has been exonerated. There are also many cases where inmates have been wrongfully convicted and executed for a murder they did not commit. There is not an exact number of innocent executions, but even one is far too many. The death penalty is not worth the risk of killing innocent people.
Oftentimes, evidence of a death row inmate’s innocence does not come to light until it is too late. Death sentences are also extremely racially biased. Studies show 40% of inmates sentenced to death are Black despite Black people making up only 13.5% of the U.S. population. In addition, 80% of people executed were convicted of crimes involving white people, in spite of Black Americans making up for more than half of all homicide victims.
The death penalty is not necessary to a just society. In fact, it does the opposite. There is no ethical way to proceed with executions to ensure innocent people are not killed, lethal injections are not botched and taxpayer dollars are not wasted.
Amelia Henson is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Amelia about their column? Email them at ah300723@ohio.edu.
