The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area
April 2014. Recommendations were made to establish higher standards for proving
guilt if a death sentence is sought, to bar the use of the death penalty for defendants
suffering from “serious mental illness”, to lessen the number of crimes carrying the
death penalty and to adopt a Racial Justice Act, which would be used to monitor the
likelihood of racial discrimination during the prosecution, trials, the application of
capital punishment and at other stages of the legal process.136
Legal Framework
The statutes of 32 states provide for the death penalty: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire,
North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.137 The
Federal Government, including the military justice system, also allows this form of
punishment.
Methods of Execution
Lethal injection was the only method used in all executions that took place during
the reporting period.138 Owing to a shortage of drugs used for lethal injections,
Indiana,139 Missouri,140 Texas141 and Ohio142 turned to alternative ways of carrying
out lethal injection executions, and introduced new combinations of drugs, new
suppliers and new laws dealing with the secrecy of drug suppliers. On 1 August
2013, the State of Texas announced that the remaining supplies of pentobarbital,
136 “Recommendations from the Ohio Supreme Court Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio’s
Death Penalty”, Ohioans to Stop Executions, April 2014, <http://www.otse.org/the-death-penalty-in-ohio/task-forcerecommendations/>.
137 In the reporting period, Ohio and Washington temporarily suspended executions.
138 “Execution List 2013, Death Penalty Information Centre, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executionlist-2013>, “Execution list 2014”, Death Penalty Information Center, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executionlist-2014>.
139 “Indiana use of new execution drug draws opposition”, CBS News, 31 May 2014, <http://www.cbsnews.com/
news/indiana-use-of-new-execution-drug-draws-opposition/>.
140 “Missouri attorney general wants the state to produce its own lethal injection drugs”, The Washington Post, 29
May 2014, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/05/29/missouri-attorney-general-wantsthe-state-to-produce-its-own-lethal-injection-drugs/>.
141 “AG: Texas can keep execution drug source secret”, Dallas News, 29 May 2014, <http://www.dallasnews.com/
news/local-news/20140529-ag-texas-can-keep-execution-drug-source-secret.ece>.
142 “States search for alternatives to lethal injection”, The Washington Post, 30 January 2014, <http://www.
washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/01/30/states-search-for-alternatives-to-lethal-injection/>.
32
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