More than a third of America’s executions this year were “botched,” according to a shocking new report, a record at a time when capital punishment is at its lowest level in 30 years.
Seven of 20 execution attempts (18 of them completed) were clearly “visually problematic,” according to a year-end report by the Death Penalty Information Center. Among them is an Arizona prisoner who was forced to help his groping executioners find a vein to inject lethal chemicals into his body.
Executioners also struggled for three hours in Alabama to find a vein in a similar circumstance, but finally carried out the execution. The state has had to reschedule other executions three times since 2018 because they were so poorly handled.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, called the reported number of problematic execution attempts “prudent” because the study was limited to what happened in the execution chamber.
“There have been a number of executions that have been called off before they even get to the execution because of not following state protocol,” Dunham told NPR.
States “have proven themselves incapable of performing lethal injections without the risk of getting it wrong,” Dunham said in a statement. “Families of victims and prisoners, other witnesses to the execution, and prison staff should not have to suffer the trauma of a botched execution.”
The center’s report attributes the problems to “perpetrator incompetence, failure to follow protocols, or flaws in the protocols themselves.”
Many of the problems in death chambers this year have been related to the difficulties of getting an IV into a prisoner to inject the lethal chemicals. All 18 people executed this year in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alabama, Missouri and Mississippi were killed by lethal injection.
Prison staff are inserting IVs because it is unethical for doctors to assist in a death, medical associations have ruled, the report said. The executioner’s training is often rudimentary, he added.
The number of failed attempts was surprising given the low number of executions, the report said. The five-year average of executions, 18.6 per year, is the lowest in 30 years.
Thirty-seven states have abolished the death penalty or not carried out an execution for more than a decade.
But even as the nation moves away from capital punishment, some states continue to “press executions” and “adopt increasingly extreme behavior” in applying the death penalty, Dunham said.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) halted the executions during a review following problematic executions in her state. Tennessee is conducting a similar review after problems led to executions being canceled or postponed.
Last week, sitting Gov. Kate Brown (D) ordered the abolition of Oregon’s death row after commuting the sentences of all 17 people on the state’s death row. Oregon governors have imposed a moratorium on executions for the past 10 years.
The next execution in the country is scheduled for January 3 in Missouri. Amber McLaughlin was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering an ex-girlfriend. McLaughlin, who would be the first openly transgender woman to be put to death if carried out, is pleading for mercy from the Missouri governor, citing mental health issues.
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