The legislative rationale behind Senate Bill 2237 presumes falsely that the business of taking an inmate’s life as punishment for a capital crime should be easy, quiet, free from confrontation or protest, and hidden as much as possible from public view or scrutiny.
That rationale is incredibly flawed.
This legislation presumes that how the state implements our harshest punishment for the most heinous crimes should be a secret ceremony conducted behind closed doors and without any accountability to the taxpayers.
The presumption is that the taxpayers don’t deserve the right to question or challenge the means used to impose the death penalty, to know who witnesses the imposition of the death penalty, and the identity of state employees or contractors who physically impose the execution. Continue…
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