Death Penalty News

It is time to debunk the myth that lethal injection is a humane procedure, and remove medicines from the capital punishment process, says Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, an international organisation that defends the human rights of people vulnerable to the world's most powerful governments. The Hague has been the location of many significant international events. A small office in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs just welcomed a new milestone. This time it was not a new treaty or convention, or a new precedent in international criminal law, but a big step in the pharmaceutical sector's efforts to stop the misuse of medicines for lethal injections. On 27 September 2017, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the Netherlands published its assessment of pharmaceutical giant Mylan's work to stop prisons using its drugs in executions[1]. New standards of industry best practice have been established for implementing distribution contr...

Ohio has been able to replenish part of its lethal drug supply in recent months, and could carry out nearly 20 additional executions under certain conditions, according to new records obtained by The Associated Press. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction took in new supplies of midazolam, a sedative administered first to condemned inmates, and potassium chloride, which stops prisoners' hearts, in December and January, several weeks after receiving previous supplies of the drugs, the records show. The records don't indicate whether the department received fresh supplies of the 2nd drug in Ohio's method called rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes inmates. But even relying on previous supplies, Ohio still has enough drugs for 18 more executions, according to drug logs which the AP obtained exclusively through an open records request. Over the past decade, execution drug supplies nationally have dried up as manufacturers, under pressure from death p...