Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

"Experts argue firing squad is a humane execution"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this interesting new AP article.  Here are some excerpts: A condemned Utah inmate's decision to die in a barrage of bullets fired by five unnamed marksmen has been vilified by many as an archaic form of Old West-style justice. But some experts argue it is more humane than all other execution methods, without the court challenges of cruelty that have plagued lethal injection. "Lethal injection, which has the veneer of medical acceptability, has far greater risks of cruelty to a condemned person," said Fordham University Law School professor Deborah Denno, who has written extensively on the constitutional questions that surround execution methods. The reasons that Ronnie Lee Gardner chose death by firing squad are unrelated to the drama or controversy it evokes, his attorney told The Associated Press...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 17, 2010 (boomark / email).