Examination of Decision Making and Botched Lethal Injection Executions in Texas

Bibliographic Data

ID4920653
AuthorsTalia Roitberg Harmon (0000-0003-4824-3274, Niagara University, Niagara, NY, USA, corresponding author), Michael Cassidy (0000-0002-0658-2641, Niagara University, Niagara, NY, USA), Richelle Kloch (SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA)
Year2020
Volume64
Issue12
Pages1715-1732
Publication date2020-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764220956701
OpenAlexW3086070561
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

This research examines the influence of lethal injection drug shortages on Texas criminal justice officials' decision to change the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol to the use of pentobarbital as a single drug protocol, without judicial oversight. We analyze data collected under the three- and one-drug protocols from 1982 through 2020 and compare differences in the length of time the lethal injection took, and complications reported by media witnesses. Findings suggest a higher rate of botched executions under the one-drug protocol than the three-drug protocol. We discuss the role compounding pharmacies may play in our results, the impact of this work on the U.S. Supreme Court's death penalty jurisprudence, and implications concerning the unilateral decision making by Texas state officials

Alternative medicine · Criminal justice · Criminology · Drug · Economic shortage · Political science · Protocol (science) · Supreme court · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues · Medicine · Pharmacology · Psychology · Torture, Ethics, and Law

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