Based mainly on religious beliefs, sociological studies reveal a deep moral contradiction existing in American society.
There is evidence that a good part of those who support the death penalty oppose abortion because that is what the commandment "thou shalt not kill" establishes.
In a hypothetical situation, this can lead to celebrating saving a fetus and then, once it grows, it may be a loose cannon and, the same people who cheered it, demand to send it to the scaffold.
So that biblical precept disappears when it comes to the legal execution of a criminal, and its justification is also found in the Bible, a catch-all for everything, as Emmanuel Carrère demonstrated in his monumental book The Kingdom.
Of course, this act of capital justice, which in the event of an error is irreparable, must be ethical and allow the criminal to die with dignity and without suffering, not like his victims, in a demonstration of mercy.
But, and this is the question, are there compassionate ways to apply this ultimate punishment?
“Unlike many countries that have the death penalty and generally only use one method of execution over an extended period of time, in the United States, since the late 19th century, we have been searching for a method of execution that be safe, reliable and humane,” says Austin Sarat, professor of Political Science and Law at Amherst College and scholar on the subject and several published books.
This past Thursday the country entered experimental territory. Kenneth Smith, whom they tried to kill unsuccessfully with a lethal injection in the Holman prison in Alabama in November 2022 for a crime from 1988, made history by being the first to be executed by asphyxiation with nitrogen, supplied through a mask. Despite modernity, it does not seem that the persecution debate will be resolved.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall assured at the conclusion of this process that the execution was “textbook” and “his humanity” had been observed. As it is. “We have done it and we are ready to help you”, words said by Marshall to encourage other states to follow his path.
But witnesses to the execution offered another version, in which Smith, 58, spent several minutes with violent shaking and trembling, as well as another time with heavy breathing.
The White House (President Joe Biden is pro-abortion and anti-death penalty as a practicing Catholic) described the execution as “problematic” due to the descriptions of what happened.
“He apparently suffered convulsions for four minutes, and was gasping for breath. She didn't go unconscious in 30 seconds. He is horrible, pain for four minutes is a long period and it is a period of torture,” Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law and an expert in the method of execution, said on the X network. This same 2024 she published a work in which she analyzes the disastrous investigation of human rights in the US by putting these sentences into practice. In 150 years, the country has used six methods – hanging, firing squad, electric chair, gas chamber, lethal injection and nitrogen asphyxiation – and one system has always replaced the other in order to spare the prisoner cruelty.
The horror of the hanging and the barbarity of the firing squad was replaced by electrocution as the perfect method. The sadism of the electric chair seemed to be overcome with the use of gas, although it was seen to cause deep pain. Then, in 1982, lethal injection was established, the ideal method with which all controversies ended. It has turned out to be one of the most disastrous.
Professor Sarat carried out an analysis of the 8,776 executions documented between 1890 and 2010. He found that 276 were botched, 3.15%. Among the malfunctions, the palm went to lethal injections, far above more barbaric methods from another era, such as hanging and the electric chair.
What happened in subsequent years has only deepened the injection disaster, largely due to the boycott by pharmaceutical companies, who do not want their name to appear in an issue like this, which generates increasingly pronounced social opposition. .
“There is a slight majority in the United States that is in favor of the death penalty, but the number is constantly declining, the percentage of those who oppose it is growing and this is the long-term trend,” explains Robin Maher, executive director of the Center on the Death Penalty, a non-profit organization dedicated to this issue.
He insists that there are already a majority of states that have abolished this punishment (29) or do not apply it even though they maintain it and do not have prisoners on death row. “The death penalty is isolated to a handful of states,” he emphasizes.
Faced with the deadly drug crisis, in a return to the past, Idaho brought back the firing squad, as did South Carolina, in addition to dusting off the electric chair. Others have already shown interest in nitrogen.
“There is no foolproof method of execution,” Sarat replies. “The search for a safe, reliable and humane method – concludes the professor – is not likely to be fulfilled. It is an illusion".
