The Supreme Court today will hear an important case that has attracted attention from states nationwide.
Stateline.org explains:
Oral arguments are scheduled for Monday (Jan. 7) in Baze v. Rees, the joint lawsuit brought by Baze and Bowling against John D. Rees, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections, and two other state officials, including former Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R). In the lawsuit, the prisoners claim the three-drug combination used to put inmates to death in Kentucky — and in the 35 other states that allow lethal injection — violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
“From all accounts that I’ve read, the stuff is like liquid fire going into your veins. Taking my life should be enough,” Baze said in a videotaped interview with The New York Times in 2005. Baze and Bowling filed their initial challenge to Kentucky’s lethal injection procedure in state court in 2004.
The Kentucky prisoners’ case is among the most closely watched of the current Supreme Court term, in part because the justices’ decision to hear the challenge has resulted in a de facto moratorium on lethal injections nationwide. Governors, state and federal courts and the Supreme Court itself have intervened to postpone all scheduled lethal injections until Baze v. Rees is decided, likely sometime in late spring or summer. As a result, 42 prisoners were executed in the United States last year, the fewest since 1994.
The case has major implications for states. The justices could uphold the current drug protocol in lethal injections or force legislatures or state departments of correction to spell out new procedures.
Here are some more resources, as well as a
searchable database for executions, and
state-by-state information.
STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
ALSO:
U.S. Government
U.S. Military
STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY:
Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
New Jersey
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
ALSO:
District of Columbia
