After a botched execution in Oklahoma, a group of criminal justice experts have come together to review current death penalty executions in the United States to prevent future errors from occurring.
The panel is pushing forthe use of a single drug, rather than a cocktail of many.
They are also calling for governments to better educate the public on the details behind death penalty processes and how the procedures are carried out.
A report produced by the panel has been published just as the Justice Department is conducting a review of death penalty procedures at both the federal and state levels. This includes a review of drugs used and details on procedures.
A report, called “Irreversible Error” has been published by the Constitution Project, which is a bipartisan group of experts composed of former elected officials, who have overseen executions, and anti-death penalty activists.
This report was underway long before the Oklahoma incident as botched executoion lead relatives to use the services of a place like morticianschool.net to find qualified people do deal with the executed prisoners.
The group’s main agenda is to make the process of the death penalty system work appropriately, to avoid any issues or errors, to ensure fair application of the penalty. They do not take a stance supporting or against the death penalty.
In a statement, former Virginia Republican Attorney General Mark Early said, "Without substantial revisions -- not only to lethal injection, but across the board -- the administration of capital punishment in America is unjust, disproportionate and very likely unconstitutional." He is a member of the Constitution Project.
The report, amid 39 findings, warns that a death sentence for people convicted of felony murder violates the Constitution’s Eight Amendment. This amendment bans cruel, unusual, and excessive punishment for crimes.
What makes this so important is that in some states, people can be convicted of felony murder even if they did not kill someone, or even attempted to kill.
"Including accidental and non-intentional murderers among the death-eligible creates perverse outcomes — those least "deserving" of a death sentence can be sentenced to die while premeditated and intentional murderers may avoid capital punishment," the report advises.
In the end, the report suggests that better measures must be taken to avoid mistakes, so the Eight Amendment is not violated and that all parties involved are well informed of what will take place.