Capital Punishment Pathology The Case for Restorning Hanging as the Method of Execution

Despite the use of Lethal Injection as the means of executing a sentence of death instead of the Gas Chamber or Electric Chair after 1980, the anti-death penalty lobby has not let up pressure to thwart the majority view the death penalty should be retained. Thanks to a de facto boycott of the supply of pharmaceuticals for Lethal Injection, many executions have been delayed for ten years or more. This book analyzes the common law method of execution by hanging, dispels the myths about hanging, assesses its lethality in bio-medical terms, compares hanging to other legal methods of execution, and makes the case for execution by hanging as an alternative or "backup" method of execution. Hanging is not obsolete, not "cruel and unusual," and is an efficient method of execution. There is risk to society in a so-called life sentence, thanks to prison release. According to the published Recidivism Rates by the State of Washington (Sentencing Guidelines Commission 2008) over 50% of convicted murderers will commit new crimes after release. On a national basis, according to the 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were over 160,000 state prisoners convicted of violent homicides, of whom at least 50% committed new crimes within 5 years after release on parole. (BJS 4/14 Special Report, Table 8.) A life-sentence can be a lifetime of waiting for the penal system to make a mistake and create the chance for taking revenge on the outside.