When it comes to lethal injection, who gets better treatment: sick pets or death-row inmates?
This morning, we reported that the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments about how a drug used to kill Oklahoma death row inmates – causing them to suffer in the process – is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.
In advance of the arguments, the Marshall Project has put together an illuminating test looking at who gets treated better: ailing animals or people being killed by the state. “See if you can guess which rules apply to which category of condemned creature,” the article suggests.
The test looks at various scenarios:
A doctor is always involved
The procedure involves paralytics
A medical association issues strict guidelines about the procedure
Drugs are difficult to find
Doctors and staff receive consistent training state-by-state.
The doctor or executioner must be in the room during the injection.
They stop if something goes wrong.
Take the test here and find out if you can tell the difference between how animals and humans are put to death.
Photo Credit: Tom Purves, Creative Commons, Flickr.
