WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Considering lethal injection as an error proof method to execute inmates in the United States is a cause for concern, US advocacy group Campaign to End the Death Penalty National Director Lily Hughes told Sputnik on Thursday.
“It is disturbing to consider that lethal injection is the most error prone method adopted so far,” Huges said.
On Wednesday, a Tennessee judge ruled that the state’s injection process for executing inmates using pentobarbital does not violate the constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because former inmates did not prove painful death.
Huges said, however, that although the drug has been labelled as a “sanitized clinical procedure,” not enough research has been done on the effects of the individual drugs used in the process.
Lethal injection executions will not be immediately resumed in the state, as they are currently on hold while appeals are prepared.
Until 2009, most states used a three-drug combination for lethal injections. In September 2013, Tennessee announced plans to switch to a one-drug protocol using pentobarbital.
In May 2014, Tennessee governor signed a bill to allow executions by electric chair if lethal injection drugs are not available.
Campaign to End the Death Penalty is a grassroots organization that aims at abolishing the death penalty.
