Executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug

[Nagishkaw 510]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States executed fewer people this year, in part because there is a shortage of the drug used in lethal injections and because executions are too expensive in tough economic times, a report released on Tuesday said.

The Death Penalty Information Center said in its annual report that executions decreased 12 percent this year and new death sentences stayed near the lowest level since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Texas led the nation with 17 of the 46 executions carried out this year in the United States. The total is down from 52 in 2009 and less than half the number put to death in 1999.

"Whether it's concerns about the high costs of the death penalty at a time when budgets are being slashed, the risks of executing the innocent, unfairness, or other reasons, the nation continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010," Richard Dieter, the center's executive director and author of the report, said in a statement.

One factor reducing or delaying executions is difficulty obtaining sodium thiopental, one of the drugs used in lethal injection executions, the Washington-based group said.

Executions were postponed or canceled in five states due to a shortage of the drug, it said. Arizona imported some from Britain, where executions have been abolished, but Britain is now restricting the drug's exportation.

New death sentences in 2010 will total 114, near the lowest level since 1976 when executions were authorized by the U.S. Supreme Court, and down two-thirds from their peak in 1996.

There have been 1,234 executions in the United States since 1976, nearly half of those carried out in Texas and Virginia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101221/od_nm/us_deathpenalty_odd;_ylt=Agz8KZv0o4znxsE7.fu8eEvtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJvaDUzZ2FnBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAxMjIxL3VzX2RlYXRocGVuYWx0eV9vZGQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNmdWxsbmJzcHN0b3I-

[The_Dude 1,142]

The death penalty is a poor deterent on crime. To make matters worse, death penalty cases cost exhorbitant amounts of money and take years upon years to complete.

[natty bumppo 297]

gone are the days of a rope and tall oak tree ....

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

gone are the days of a rope and tall oak tree ....

But we still have the wrongfully convicted being executed.

[Nagishkaw 510]

gone are the days of a rope and tall oak tree ....

[natty bumppo 297]

But we still have the wrongfully convicted being executed.

and your point is?

i only mentioned the rope and trees ...

there isn't a pharmacy issue there though sometimes a good tree was some distance away from the point of capture ...

[The_Dude 1,142]

gone are the days of a rope and tall oak tree ....

There are still lynch mobs Natty.......

I do believe there are some states that do offer the option of a hanging. Doesn't change the lawyer fees and 15 years of appeals in between the crime and the execution though.

[natty bumppo 297]

There are still lynch mobs Natty.......

I do believe there are some states that do offer the option of a hanging. Doesn't change the lawyer fees and 15 years of appeals in between the crime and the execution though.

where did i mention lynch mobs?

or are you talking about mexico ... though there it might be a combination of the mob and selective targeting ....

[The_Dude 1,142]

where did i mention lynch mobs?

or are you talking about mexico ... though there it might be a combination of the mob and selective targeting ....

You said a rope and a tall oak tree. Lynch mob is what comes to mind as hanging a criminal is not a standard practice anymore, unless the few states that allow the prisoner to request it.

[natty bumppo 297]

You said a rope and a tall oak tree. Lynch mob is what comes to mind as hanging a criminal is not a standard practice anymore, unless the few states that allow the prisoner to request it.

where is BY ... he would love this thread ...

hint:

"gone are the days ...."

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think a lot of hints are needed to make sense of this. Lynch mobs weren't mentioned, innocents being executed weren't mentioned - only the words "gone are the days of a rope and tall oak tree ...." as if this is NOT supposed to conjure up certain, fairly specific imagery relating to summary executions.

[natty bumppo 297]

I think a lot of hints are needed to make sense of this. Lynch mobs weren't mentioned, innocents being executed weren't mentioned - only the words "gone are the days of a rope and tall oak tree ...." as if this is NOT supposed to conjure up certain, fairly specific imagery relating to summary executions.

guess you have an issue with simply reading words as they are typed

keep trying to analyze the sentence ... any imagery or assumptions beyond the typed word are the sole ownership of the person attempting to project the imagery or assumptions and have no bearing on the sentence originator.

meanwhile .... release ... and ... reset hook ...

Edited December 21, 2010 by natty bumppo

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

guess you have an issue with simply reading words as they are typed

keep trying to analyze the sentence ... any imagery or assumptions beyond the typed word are the sole ownership of the person attempting to project the imagery or assumptions and have no bearing on the sentence originator.

meanwhile .... release ... and ... reset hook ...

I'm sorry, no - that's wrong. The image of a noose thrown over a tree is, in an American context, an image with a common association.

The words were typed with an intent behind them after all. Are you condoning summary execution and lynching?

[natty bumppo 297]

I'm sorry, no - that's wrong. The image of a noose thrown over a tree is, in an American context, an image with a common association.

The words were typed with an intent behind them after all. Are you condoning summary execution and lynching?

call it what you will ... i simply typed the words

others can determine how the words are perceived and run with it ... only please keep the ownership of your thoughts ... as yours.

Edited December 21, 2010 by natty bumppo

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

call it what you will ... i simply typed the words

others can determine how the words are perceived and run with it ... only please keep the ownership of your thoughts ... as yours.

No - that's not how it works. Common imagery evokes common associations - you are aware of those associations as well as others.

Let's try a different example to illustrate the point - If someone said to you in a conversation about illegal immigrants "gone are the days when people were herded into gas chambers", presumably no association could be inferred or assumed from that - that it somehow related to the Holocaust.

Could someone credibly sit back and say "I just typed the words, any meanings you associate with them are yours alone"?

Of course not.

Edited December 21, 2010 by Ron Burgundy