The death penalty debate in America: Too cruel — and too expensive

The number of executions in the United States has been declining for years. Poison, money and executioners are missing. In a recent case in Arizona, there is another reason for the governor’s conscience.

Death by poisoning — that’s the verdict for Aaron Kunzes in Arizona. The 51-year-old is due to be executed today for the 2002 murder of his girlfriend’s ex-husband.

The date is still on the official calendar, but it won’t be certain: Newly elected Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has confirmed with the Arizona Supreme Court that she is not obligated to carry out the death penalty.

Hobbs campaigned on a promise to reform the prison system. In 2014, executions by lethal injection lasted more than two hours. His lawyer later reported that the man killed this way had been gasping and snoring for more than an hour.

Missing poison, missing staff

2022, the year the lethal injection turns 40, will be a record year for executions by injection in the U.S.: According to the Death Penalty Information Center, seven out of 20 murders were clearly problematic — or 35 percent.

Arizona currently has 110 inmates on death row. Three executions were carried out last year. However, according to Governor Hobbs, the state of Arizona does not have the expertise and experience to carry out executions.

The state has been unable to find an IV team to administer the lethal injection, and currently has no contract with a pharmacist to make pentobarbital, the poison required for executions.

Firing Squads in Idaho

No poison for executions – even in Idaho this is a challenge for law enforcement agencies. So firing squads can be deployed there again from July 1.

In late March, Republican Gov. Brad Little changed the law after two execution dates for an inmate were postponed because supplies for lethal injection were unavailable.

Death penalty in more than half of states

A total of 27 of the 50 US states can impose the death penalty, as well as the US federal government and military. In 1972, the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but was reinstated in 1976.

Since then 1567 executions have been carried out. However, over the past 20 years, this number has been declining drastically. Only 18 executions were carried out last year in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Arizona and Alabama. The state of Texas always leads the way.

The number of executions decreases because there is no poison and no executioners. Above all, however, it falls due to high costs: according to the Death Penalty Information Center, each death sentence costs an average of more than 20 million US dollars – in Florida, more than 50 million, according to Amnesty International. Imprisoning a criminal for life is part of it.

Poison, electricity, gas, rope, bullet

Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, the majority of criminals – 1,387 – have been executed by lethal injection. 163 were executed in the electric chair, eleven were executed in the gas chamber, three were hanged and three were shot.

In some states, such as Alabama, California, South Carolina, or Virginia, the offender may choose his own form of murder. There are firing squads in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah, and since July in Idaho.

American citizens continue to support the death penalty

Nearly 150 people who spent years on death row were freed. However, miscarriages of justice corrected in this way will not lead people to reconsider: According to a survey by the polling firm Pew, most Americans support the death penalty.

Despite concerns about its use and the accidental execution of innocent people: 78 percent say they are at risk of innocent people being executed.

Arizona currently has 110 inmates on death row. Three people were executed there last year.