...but the alternative is worse.
Perhaps the main thing growing up shows you is your own substantial and recurring failings. If you're lucky and have a conscience, you work to get better. But the inborn flaws of human nature mean you'll never succeed. (I believe this is the heart of the Christian doctrine of Original Sin). Acceptance of the inevitability and the (sometimes crushing) heartbreak of failure, and the assurance that you can improve, even if never to the point of perfection, is, I have come to believe, the basic meaning of growing up.
I say this by way of introducing how I believe we should react to the failed execution in Oklahoma last night.
There are five things we need to understand.
First, it really was failed (or botched, to use the more frequent term). The condemned inmate, Clayton Lockett, underwent what certainly seemed to be a great deal of pain, apparently because the needle that was supposed to go in his vein went through it instead.
Second, the failure had nothing to do with source or quality of the drugs. There is no reason to believe that anything would have been different had the defense succeeded in its motion to require disclosure of the pharmacy. The problem was not the drugs; the problem was the placement of the needle.
Third, as the Supreme Court held in Baze, execution is a legal punishment in this country (and most of the rest of the world, while we're at it), and what this necessarily means is that the law properly may designate a way to carry out that punishment.
Fourth, that method must not, consistently with Eighth Amendment, bear a substantial likelihood of severe pain. From what our overall experience tells us, lethal injection meets the Eighth Amendment standard. What last night's execution shows is not that lethal injection is constitutionally deficient per se, but that the state should exercise great care in selecting the people who will administer it. It might also, as Kent has noted, look to other methods, such as carbon monoxide gas.
Fifth, while we strive to be humane and avoid wanton suffering, even for the most vicious killer, we ought not forget that Lockett earned his way to the injection chamber; that there was no sane doubt of his guilt; and that death is what he deserved.
I started this entry by talking about what it means to be grown up. What it means in light of this woeful experience is to be (1) honest about what went wrong and the harm it caused, (2) sincere about finding ways to improve, and (3) resolute in the face of what is certain to be knee-jerk (along with some very contrived) outrage, and the renewal of old charges of barbarism.
A botched execution is a reason to improve executions, not a reason to stop them. Our citizens overwhelmingly and correctly believe that death is a just punishment for some horrible crimes. Lockett's was as horrible as they come, but no more horrible than hundreds of others committed by convicts awaiting the fate they have earned.
Wikipedia indicates that, of 195 UN-recognized countries, 100 have abolished capital punishment, 48 theoretically retain the possibility but have executed no one in the past 10 years, and 40 retain it both in law and in practice. So it is not correct to say that execution is legal in "most of the rest of the world."
And appealing to the universality of the practice seems particularly unpersuasive when the 39 other countries that regularly execute criminals are almost exclusively developing countries, many of which have little or no respect for procedural or substantive rights for criminal defendants (or anyone else for that matter).
Our compatriots in the capital punishment business in 2012 were: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Gambia, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Taiwan, UAE, and Yemen. I would imagine that you are generally not in favor of following the lead of this group of countries in structuring our criminal justice system.
Aside from your specious appeal to the not-so-universal practice of capital punishment, I agree that one person screwing up the insertion of a needle doesn't render an execution method unconstitutional, as much as I might want it to for policy reasons.
Actually, it is entirely correct to say that most of the world supports the death penalty, if by "most of the world" one means "most of the people in the world." I covered this here: http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/2010/01/the-world-supports-the-death-p.html
See also: http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/2013/05/uk-poll-63-favor-death-penalty.html
and
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/02/08/majority_of_canadians_support_return_of_death_penalty_poll_finds.html
Good post Bill, quite possibly your best as to the observation on learning from mistakes.
Regarding the comment on what countries practice capital punishment, I think it is an interesting observation that by population you are most certainly correct.
Thanks. The older I get, the clearer it becomes how much I have yet to learn.
I don't think the fact that China's completely non-democratic government uses the death penalty indicates that the people in China support it. Chinese polling shows broad support, but I can't say I place a great deal of stock in a poll asking citizens of an authoritarian country whether they agree with government policy.
And of course the appeal to broad public support again ignores the fact that you're talking about people in countries that engage in all sorts of practices that I would certainly hope you would not endorse. For instance, many African and Middle Eastern countries overwhelmingly support the death penalty for consensual homosexual conduct. If the half of the world who agrees with you is also the half of the world that wants to kill all the gays, perhaps you should look elsewhere for support.
I also find it interesting that the methodological objections you raised with respect to WebMD's online marijuana poll did not trouble you with respect to the online poll of death penalty support in the UK.
Thanks for replying to clarify your position, though.
"I don't think the fact that China's completely non-democratic government uses the death penalty indicates that the people in China support it."
And what evidence do you have that the majority of the Chinese people OPPOSE the death penalty?
I'd like to see it, because four nearby democracies in that part of the world (India, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea) have the death penalty. But I'll be eager to see your evidence that the majority of people in China secretly share your view.
"And of course the appeal to broad public support again ignores the fact that you're talking about people in countries that engage in all sorts of practices that I would certainly hope you would not endorse. For instance, many African and Middle Eastern countries overwhelmingly support the death penalty for consensual homosexual conduct."
I notice you have nothing to say about the fact that majorities in Canada and the UK support capital punishment. Are those countries on your bad list too?
Yes, Islamic countries have the death penalty, it being consistent with Islamic religious teaching. I trust you're not an anti-Islamic bigot, are you?
And while we're at it, such wonderful countries as the increasingly repressive Venezuela and our friends in Russia do NOT have the death penalty. Are you proud to align with them?
I repeat: In the majority of the world, the death penalty is both legal and supported by the people.
/“I notice you have nothing to say about the fact that majorities
in Canada and the UK support capital punishment. Are those countries
on your bad list too?”/
B. Otis:
This stresses the undemocratic flavour of current “moderninsts/liberals”,
and sadly, too much of contemporary America.
From my experience following blogs and working in a progressive state,
I would argue that this commenter appreciates rather than decries the
fact that leaders force the public to accept a ban on executions in Canada,
in the UK.
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death
your right to say it,” has been replaced with
“We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends…”
[Voltaire, 1771 with the former, Pres. Obama, 2010 with the latter.]
wikiquote; hotair.com/archives/2010/10/25/obamas-turnout-pitch-to-latinos-get-out-there-and-punish-your-enemies/
~Adamakis