A few months ago, the world watched as Henry McCollum was declared innocent after 30 years on North Carolina’s death row. Now, N.C. lawmakers say we need to hurry up and execute people.
The idea defies reason, and yet, this week the N.C. House took some disturbing and misguided steps to restart executions.
Not only did the House approve a bill removing the requirement that doctors be present at executions, it also approved a provision that would cloak the execution process in secrecy. The public would no longer have a right to know who carries out executions, what drugs are used, or where those drugs come from.
Executing a human being is one of the most serious acts the state will ever carry out. It is unconscionable to remove protections that ensure it is done humanely and constitutionally. It is unacceptable to deny the public the right to scrutinize how the state carries out its task.
To do those things at a time when there are serious questions about innocent people on death row — and when we have seen botched executions carried out with experimental drug combinations in state after state — is unimaginable.
Lawmakers say their intent is to remove obstacles standing in the way of executions. But if they believe this bill will restart executions, they are mistaken.
Many issues surrounding the constitutionality of N.C.’s execution protocol must still be hashed out in court. This change in the law would only create more questions, and ensure that the wait to resume executions in North Carolina will continue indefinitely.
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