In the United States, a third of attempted executions this year have encountered problems. This is according to the annual report of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
2022 was “the year of botched executions,” it said. Overall, however, the death penalty in the USA is on the decline. 18 people were executed this year – significantly fewer than a decade ago. For comparison: in 1999, 98 executions were carried out.
7 of the 20 execution attempts were “obviously problematic”. The reasons for this are “the incompetence of the executioners, the non-compliance with protocols or deficiencies in the protocols themselves”. In July, for example, it took an executioner three hours to insert an IV tube at an execution in Alabama. It was the longest botched lethal injection execution in US history.
“States have demonstrated their inability to implement lethal injections without risk of botching,” said DPIC Director Robert Dunham. “The families of victims and prisoners, other execution witnesses and prison staff should not be subjected to the trauma of an execution gone awry.”
Polls: Support for death penalty hits rock bottom
Executions were carried out in 2022 in six states, namely Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi and Missouri – with the first two carrying out the most executions. In 37 of the 50 US states, the death penalty has been abolished or no executions have been carried out for more than a decade. In states that still have them, lethal injection is the common method.
Of the 18 people executed this year, several had mental illnesses or were victims of neglect or abuse, and some committed their crimes as juveniles, the report said.
Opinion polls in 2022 showed support for the death penalty in the US was at an all-time low, according to the report, despite rising crime perceptions.
