About ND ASK

Notre Dame Against State Killing (ND ASK) is a campaign for a moratorium on executions in Indiana. We work to inspire discussion and action on the death penalty on the Notre Dame campus and across Indiana.

For more information or to join ND ASK, please fill out the form above or e-mail us at NotreDameASK@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting.

Monday, April 30, 2007

The International Death Penalty Debate Rages On

The Economist:

...The horrors of cruelly administered, or botched, execution are not confined to developing countries or to lands that follow the letter of hudud, traditional Islamic punishment. In Florida last December, Angel Diaz was executed by lethal injection. The three-drug cocktail that is used by 37 American states is supposed first to induce unconsciousness, then to paralyse muscles and block breathing, and finally to stop the heart. But after the first injection, Diaz continued to move, squint and grimace as he tried to mouth words...

...According to Amnesty International's latest report, “at least” (precise figures are hard to get) 1,591 executions were carried out worldwide last year, well down on the previous year, but nearly 40% higher than in 2003. Yet Piers Bannister, the lobby group's death-penalty specialist, believes that the world is gradually inching its way towards abolition....

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