美国国家公共电台 NPR States Find Other Execution Methods After Difficulties With Lethal Injection

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The state of Arkansas has a death penalty problem. The state is rushing to execute death row inmates¹ at an unprecedented² pace this month before its supply of lethal³ drugs expires. The expiration⁴ date is important because it's getting a lot harder for states to obtain lethal injection drugs. And as a result, executions are actually down nationwide, as NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE⁵: Death penalty laws are on the books in 31 states but only 5 carried out executions last year. Lethal injection methods are under increasing legal scrutiny⁶. And pharmacies⁷ don't want to provide the deadly drug combinations for the purpose of putting prisoners to death. Mississippi hasn't executed anyone since 2012.

ANDY GIPSON: I'll admit it is more and more difficult to carry out the sentence of the death penalty.

ELLIOTT: Republican Andy Gipson is the chairman of the Mississippi House Judiciary Committee. He says for the last six years, lawmakers have had to tweak the state's death penalty statute⁸ to keep it constitutional.

GIPSON: It has been a huge problem year after year after year. So we modify the formula. We try to see if we come up with another suitable formula of injection that will be humane⁹, and then another lawsuit¹⁰ gets filed to say we can't do that either.

ELLIOTT: So this year, Mississippi came up with a backup plan. Should its lethal injection protocol¹¹ not stand, it will turn to a hierarchy¹² of old-school execution methods - the gas chamber¹³, the electric chair or a firing squad¹⁴. Utah also allows for the firing squad. And Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have brought back the electric chair.

States are coming up with these alternatives to deal with what the Death Penalty Information Center deems a de facto moratorium¹⁵ on executions in some places. The group opposes capital punishment and has documented a steep drop in the numbers of both executions and death sentences.

Executive Director Robert Dunham says two-thirds of the states either don't have the death penalty or haven't executed anyone in more than a decade.

ROBERT DUNHAM: Executions have been concentrated in a small number of southern states. The rest of the country is largely not carrying out executions, if they do, they're doing so rarely.

ELLIOTT: Seven states have abolished the death penalty in the last 15 years but public support remains¹⁶. For instance, after the Nebraska legislature repealed¹⁷ capital punishment in 2015, voters reinstated it last year. Dunham says courts have allowed for more convictions to be reviewed, and the result has been fewer death sentences carried out.

DUNHAM: The single most likely outcome of a capital case once somebody is sentenced to death is not that they will be executed, it's that their conviction or death sentence will be overturned.

ELLIOTT: That fact has led some officials to rethink capital punishment. Newly elected prosecutors¹⁸ in Denver and Orlando have said they won't seek death sentences. The decision has sparked controversy¹⁹ in Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Over loudspeaker) Florida stands with State Attorney Ayala.

ELLIOTT: Death penalty opponents rallied at the Capitol last week in support of Orlando State Attorney Aramis Ayala. Governor Rick Scott has removed her from handling 22 murder cases because of her refusal to seek the death penalty.

ARAMIS AYALA: It is a response to a broken system.

ELLIOTT: When she took office, Ayala says, Florida's death penalty was unconstitutional and existing sentences were under review.

AYALA: I'm looking at cases from 1970. I'm looking at cases that existed when I was 2 years old, and families have been waiting on death sentences since then. And I had to look at a open case in my office and say, am I going to throw this case into that pile of chaos²⁰?

ELLIOTT: As that plays out in Florida, Arkansas is making preparations to execute eight inmates in a 10-day stretch later this month before its lethal injection drugs expire, a pace never seen in the U.S. since the Supreme²¹ Court reinstated the death penalty in the 1970s. Debbie Elliott, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUFJAN STEVENS SONG, "SISTER")

1 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

4 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

7 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

8 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

9 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

10 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

11 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

12 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

13 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

14 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

15 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

16 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

17 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

18 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

19 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

20 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

21 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。