Research into the practice of anesthesiology revealed that inmates undergoing lethal injection
might have been conscious during the process. Individual executions in Arkansas, California,
Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, and in the federal system were
halted because of this issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court intervened at the 11
th
hour in the Florida case of Clarence Hill,
resulting in the halting of all executions there. The Court ultimately ruled unanimously that
lethal injection challenges could appropriately be raised using civil rights laws in federal court.
Some courts have issued rulings on the constitutionality of the procedures used in various
states, but the matter is far from resolved. If differences arise at the appellate level, the
Supreme Court may review the merits of this issue.
Although courts in some states have conducted thorough reviews of the lethal injection
process, other courts, responding to similar challenges, found no reason to hold hearings or to
delay executions. Texas, for example, executed more people in 2006 than it did in 2005.
Florida executed Clarence Hill, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he could proceed
with his lethal injection challenge. The lower courts ruled that he had filed his complaint too
late and therefore no delay or hearing was required.
The arbitrariness of some inmates receiving extensive hearings, while others were executed
quickly, caught the attention of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Boyce Martin, Jr., who wrote:
[T]he dysfunctional patchwork of stays and executions going on in this country further
undermines the various states’ effectiveness and ability to properly carry out death
sentences. We are currently operating under a system wherein condemned inmates are
bringing nearly identical challenges to the lethal injection procedure. In some instances stays
are granted, while in others they are not and the defendants are executed, with no
principled distinction to justify such a result.
Alley v. Little (6th Cir. May 16, 2006) (Martin, J., dissenting).
Declining Use of the Death Penalty
The annual number of death sentences is now at its
lowest level in 30 years. The number of death sentences
remained steady at about 300 per year in the 1990s, but
began to drop in 1999, and has declined almost 60% since
then. The Bureau of Justice Statistics recorded 128 death
sentences in 2005, down from 138 in 2004. Projections
based on six months of 2006 indicate that the number of
death sentences will be even lower this year, dropping to
approximately 114. Even in Texas, death sentences have
dropped 65% in the past 10 years.
The 53 executions in 2006 was the lowest number since
1996, when there were 45. Lethal injection litigation
temporarily halted some executions. If that controversy is
resolved, executions could increase in 2007. Nevertheless,
executions are down about 40% since their highpoint in
1999. The size of death row also decreased in 2006,
continuing an annual decline that began in 2000 after 25
years of steady increases. Five of those put to death this
year waived their appeals, thereby hastening their own
execution. Eighty-three percent of those executed in 2006
were from the South.
Overall, public support for the death penalty remained
about the same in 2006 compared to 2005. Gallup Polls this year indicated that two-thirds of