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Toxic Lethal Injection Death: Only one method of giving death penalty is prevalent in India, but in other countries of the world other methods of death penalty are also adopted. Putting someone to death through poisonous injection is also one of them. On December 7, 1982, death penalty was given for the first time by toxic injection. This case is from Texas state of America.
Toxic Lethal Injection Death: There are many ways to execute the death sentence. These include hanging, shooting with bullets and electric chair etc. There is only one way to give death penalty in India – hanging. But, in America there was a debate on devising a humane way of giving capital punishment. After this, it was agreed to impose death penalty by poisonous injection. On December 7, 2982, for the first time, a person named Charles Brooks Jr. was given death sentence in this manner. The method of giving death sentence in America has been changing from time to time. Sometimes firing squad, sometimes electric chair and sometimes hanging, but a hanging in Texas in 1982 brought a big turning point in American history. After this hanging (i.e. the death of Charles Brooks Jr.), lethal injection became the main method of death penalty in America.
This story is not just about the death of a criminal, but about a time when America was searching for a more humane way to kill. In the 1970s, there was a temporary moratorium on the death penalty in America. The Supreme Court had said that the laws of many states were vague and the method of giving death penalty could not be considered humane. Meanwhile, in 1977, a prisoner, Gary Gilmore, chose to die by firing squad. After that the question started arising that can there be any way by which death can be given without pain? It was here that Dr. Jay Chapman, the Medical Examiner of Oklahoma, got the responsibility of finding the most humane method. Dr. Chapman had said in 2015, ‘Animals were also killed in a more humane manner than humans. Therefore the use of medical drugs seemed better.
Dr. Chapman described a simple process of three medicines -:
- Sodium Thiopental – for sedation
- Pancuronium bromide – to paralyze the body
- Potassium Chloride – to stop heart palpitations
Which state of America gave the first approval?
The US state of Oklahoma had for the first time approved the provision of death penalty by poisonous injection. After some time, Texas also gave it the green signal. Charles Brooks Jr. was sentenced to death by injection for the first time. He was once a high school football star. He belonged to a good family and was excellent in studies. He married his high school sweetheart, but in 1976 his life changed because of a crime. Brooks had gone to look at a second-hand car. He asked mechanic David Gregory to accompany him on a test drive. On the way, his companion Woody sat in the Loudres car. Gregory was later put in the boot of a car and murdered at a nearby motel.
Death penalty by poisonous injection in these countries
- America: First used in 1982. This is the main method in many states. In this, medicines like anesthetic, paralyzing medicine and potassium chloride which stops the heart are used.
- China: It is used here also. Firing squads are also used, but its exact figures are kept secret.
- Vietnam: Adopted this method in 2013.
- Thailand: Adopted it in 2003.
- Taiwan: Allowed by law, but firing squads have traditionally been used.
- Nigeria: Adopted it in 2015, but no executions have been carried out using this method yet.
- Guatemala: Adopted this method, but no executions took place using this method after 2000.
- Maldives: Adopted it in 2014, but no one has been hanged here since independence.
- Philippines: It used to be used here, but the death penalty was abolished in 2006.
What was the matter?
Loudres received a 40-year sentence, while Brooks was sentenced to death in 1978. On Death Row, Brooks became known as a quiet, well-read and thinking inmate. Since 1976, 1,459 people have been killed by lethal injection in America. Even today this method is authorized in 27 American states, the Army and the Federal Government. In South Carolina, the electric chair is the default, but prisoners can choose lethal injection if drugs are available. A 2006 report said that this method seemed more acceptable to the public, although the process was not well developed. Dr. Chapman himself had said, ‘It did not matter to me which medicine killed, as long as one medicine worked.’ Today many states provide the same large amounts of anesthetic as in pet euthanasia. Many states still use the three-drug system.
