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Article: Lethal injection on trial.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)
- Article from:
- State Legislatures
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 National Conference of State Legislatures. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Recent stays of execution in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Virginia come on the heels of the Sept. 25, 2007, decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Baze v. Rees sometime early this year. In this case, two current Kentucky death row inmates argue that the three-chemical cocktail used in lethal injections inflicts unnecessary pain and suffering and thereby constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution.
Opponents argue that lethal injection does not contain enough anesthetic to relieve pain, prisoners are not properly anesthetized before receiving the injection and ...