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As Arizona, Other States Struggle To Find Execution Drugs, How Far Should States Go To Carry Out Executions?

Published: Thursday, December 3, 2015 - 5:15pm
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An Arkansas state judge ruled Thursday the state has to disclose the source of its execution drugs by noon Friday. A state law had kept that information secret.

The legality of Arizona’s capital punishment methods continues to work its way through the courts. The issue stems from last year’s so called “botched” execution of Joseph Wood, who was sentenced to death for the murder of his former girlfriend and her father. His execution last year took nearly two hours.

One aspect of the death penalty is regarding the difficulty states have finding the drugs to use in lethal injections. Corinna Lain is a former prosecutor and current Law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. She’s been writing about the death penalty for more than a decade.

Art Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, spoke about what obligation states have to carry out lethal injections.

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