Op-Ed: Failed Execution Should End the Death Penalty

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Op-Ed: Failed Execution Should End the Death Penalty

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Hank Kalet
Oct 7
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Christa Pike was tortured. She was strapped to a gurney, injected with drugs designed to disable her, to completly immobilize her and ultimately leave her to drown in her own bodily fluids.

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The drug cocktail used in Tennessee failed. Pike was conscious and apparently in significant pain. Tennessee officials tried again, but Pike remained conscious and in pain. The execution failed and Pike ultimately was hospitalized.

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The debate that has followed has focused on what I would call side issues — incompetency on the part of Tennessee officials, problems with the drugs used, the narrowness of Pike’s veins, and so on. These issues miss the larger point.

This is a preview of my upcoming column in the Progressive Populist, for paying subscribers only.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

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