Electrocution: Cruel and Unusual? Currently, Nebraska is the only state that utilizes the electric chair as their sole means of execution. However, Nate Jenkins from the Associated Press writes today that the Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled electrocution to be cruel and unusual. The high court issued this decision in the case of Raymond Mata Jr., sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of three-year-old Adam Gomez. The child's body parts were found in Mata’s freezer and dog's bowl. In the majority opinion Judge William Connolly opined that prisoners sometimes “retain enough brain functioning to consciously suffer the torture high voltage electric current inflicts on a human body.”

In his dissent, the Chief Justice pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the electric chair and that the wording of the Nebraska Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment is identical to the Eighth Amendment. He suggests that the correct test for method-of-execution claims is that both the state and federal constitutions prohibit “deliberate indifference to an unreasonable risk of severe and prolonged pain in execution,” quoting CJLF's brief in Baze v. Rees, presently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Update: Adam Liptak has this story in the NYT.

Releasing Crack Convicts Early On our News Scan Wednesday the Associated Press discussed the U.S. Attorney General's call for changes in newly minted Crack Sentencing Rules. According to the LA Times, the U.S. Sentencing Commission felt that crack laws were unfairly affecting African Americans, who constitute 9 out of 10 crack defendants. The new sentencing guidelines go into effect on March 3rd, but some U.S. Attorneys are already implementing them. AG Michael B. Mukasey is repeating his concerns about this today before the House Judiciary Committee. For example, Deborah Woodard was convicted of possessing more than 50 grams of crack with the intent to distribute and was sentenced to 135 months in a federal prison. In Boston, a federal judge recently took 15 months off of her sentence, which will make her eligible for release this June.

Mental Health Courts According to a story by Emma Schwartz in U.S News, more than twice as many people with mental illnesses currently live in prison than in hospitals. Having these individuals restricted to prison cells rather than in treatment worsens their illness, often resulting in violence. There are about 175 mental health courts nationwide dealing with problems in overcrowded prisons. These courts are focused on diverting treatable defendants to programs rather than prisons, monitoring their subjects' success at attending treatment and staying off drugs. In many cases a violation of probation results in assignment to more treatment or increased supervision. Our post from last week discusses a new effort to prevent the mentally ill from purchasing firearms.