The Real Questions

Today's 7-2 decision in Baze v. Rees was, as expected by many, in favor of upholding current lethal injection protocols. When the case was first granted cert. by the Supreme Court back in October, there was some buzz about what this case could accomplish and what possible strides forward an opinion favorable to death penalty reform could cause.

Upon continued inspection, however, many began to see Baze v. Rees for what is was: a case about chemistry.

Unlike the quixotic battle against the flaws of the death penalty that was hoped for by some, the narrow scope of the questions placed in front of the Justices made it clear that this case would rule on thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride not racial disparities, an undue cost burden on taxpayers, and the lack of a conclusively demonstrated deterrent effect. In fact, as the chemistry of executions was hashed out throughout the case, a different chemical-the one used to put animals to sleep-emerged as a seemingly acceptable alternative as it mitigated the risks involved with the current three-drug "cocktail".

And so, while the highest court in the land discussed the Eighth Amendment in differing terms like "substantial" or "objectively intolerable" pain, and "unnecessary risk" of pain vs. "substantial risk" of pain, I simply had to shake my head with the full knowledge that this was not the debate society needs to be having. While the facts of the case may be appropriate for Supreme Court Justices, we the people need to be talking about what a fair and effective justice system means to us.

Does a fair justice system sentence those who kill whites to death three times as often as those who kill blacks, as Indiana's does?

Does an effective justice system spend almost 40% more on a capital case than the cost of imprisoning a defendant for their entire life? Indiana's does.

Is it acceptable to have innocent men come within 3 days or 2 weeks of their executions, only to later be acquitted of their crimes? It happened here in Indiana.

This is just the beginning of this long overdue conversation and it doesn't involve chemistry.