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Article: Lawsuits charge lethal injections inhumane; Activists want to end that form of execution
- Article from:
- Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
- Article date:
- September 18, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Lethal injection, when used for the first
time in Texas nearly 22 years ago, was touted as a more humane way to
execute prisoners than the firing squad, hanging, the gas chamber or
even the electric chair.
Today, though, death penalty opponents are challenging that notion
based on the Constitution's Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted."
Attorneys in at least a dozen of the 37 states that use lethal
injection have filed lawsuits seeking to ban the procedure, which
they say puts inmates through excruciating pain because the
anesthetic wears off before the two other drugs are injected.