9 minute read
Botched execution reveals government apathy
After six years of hiatus from public executions, Oklahoma attempted to restart their program to disastrous effects.
Justin Klopfer
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On Oct. 28, the State of Oklahoma executed John Marion Grant, condemned to death in 1999 for the murder of a prison cafeteria worker. His death is the state’s first use of capital punishment since 2015 after botching two executions consecutivelywere consecutively botched. The Department of Corrections seemingly learned nothing in this timeeam, botching the recent execution, with Grant vomiting and convulsing for 15 minutes before dying.
The two 2015 executions that led to the death penalty’s suspension were both horrifically botched. Officials called for a stoppage during Clayton Lockett’s execution, the first of the two, as Lockett clung to life, though eventually dying 43 minutes into the procedure. In the second execution, officials gave Charles Warner potassium acetate instead of potassium chloride. Warner said “My body is on fire” during the execution. Richard Glossip, the next man awaiting execution, was mere hours away from the same procedure when the state realized they had obtained the same wrong drug. Mary Fallin, Oklahoma’s governor at the time, assured the people the drugs were “medically interchangeable,” as if government-sanctioned killing was a routine medical procedure.
Grant, like Lockett and Warner, received a three-drug combination for his lethal injection containing midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The first drug is a sedative used to reduce anxiety and induce sleep, the second a paralytic to prevent movement and potassium chloride stops the heart. Midazolam has repeatedly failed to induce a fully comatose state, including the previous two botched executions in Oklahoma.
America’s previous death drug of choice, Pentobarbital, became unavailable after a Dutch company came under fire for supplying it. This apparently gave no pause to the Federal Government, who rushed to less-regulated compound pharmacies to get their chemicals. Once even these shady pharmacies were prevented from selling the drug, would-be headsmen have created experimental cocktails, using the condemned as lab rats.
The second drug, vecuronium bromide, is ultimately unnecessary for the execution. All it does is paralyze the recipient—doing nothing to prevent pain for the victim or contributing to their death. Rather, it makes the victim immobile, thus appearing to not be in pain for the viewers. We can all feel a little better about ourselves if the man strapped to the gurney slowly dying doesn’t seem to be too distressed. Only when the paralytic fails do we consider the execution as botched, but there’s no reason to believe all of the dozens of motionless executions were without pain.
Of course, most Americans don’t see this gruesome process, nor do they want to. Surely no well-adjusted person could justify the brutality that repeatedly occurs in Oklahoma’s execution chamber, but that doesn’t stop the widespread support the death penalty has in our state. The death penalty offers a false sense of justice in response to horrific crimes; a simple life sentence just doesn’t have the cathartic punch killing does. When reaucratic and legal processes an execution requires ends up making it more costly than a life sentence. Similarly, some argue that practicing the death penalty can reduce crime by detering potential criminals, but
genuine analysis and prevention of violent behavior is off the table, execution is the only fulfilling option.
The recent history of capital punishment in Oklahoma illustrates a disturbing trend. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections repeatedly neglects any serious analysis of their procedures or reconciliation with previous failings. Maybe there haven’t been any real failings; the brutality and negligence are part of one’s restitution to society and the spectacle of capital punishment. When the disgusting treatment of death row inmates is so systemic, it is blatantly “cruel and unusual.”
A common rationalization for the death penalty points out the cost of keeping someone in jail, seeing execution as the cheaper option. However, studies consistently show the opposite; the immense amount of buthe facts don’t support this argument, with FBI crime reports not showing lesser rates of murder in death penalty states compared to states not practicing it.
Sadly, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has already confirmed it will not change its execution protocols. The world is no safer when someone is put to death instead of kept in prison. Really, underneath economic or safety-focused arguments lies a desire to wreak revenge and exert power. The criminal justice system, ideally an institution for rehabilitation, panders to the desires of the most bloodthirsty among us. Any humane government should hold fast to principles of forgiveness and mercy rather than give in to violent whims. There is never closure or justice in capital punishment; only death and despair.
courtesy Wikimedia Commons A gurney used for executions in California, the Oklahoma viewing room shares many features.
After the withdrawal from Afghanistan, many feel the arts are threatened.
Logan Guthrie
Sports Editor
At the end of the Afghan Civil war in the 1990s, the Taliban managed to seize control of Afghanistan. During this time, the Taliban placed a ban on music, leading many musicians to flee the country or face exile. Many went to Pakistan where they continued to succeed with their talents. While Afghan music traditions and culture managed to survive and thrive outside the land of its roots, in the country itself punishments were set for both getting caught with music or musical instruments, as well as playing music. Some punishments were simply confiscation, but many were beaten and imprisoned as well. After the U.S. Intervention, the structure of the Afghan government transformed to an interim system leading to a democratically elected succession of presidents in the country, during which the music scene began to rejuvenate within Afghanistan itself. Although not perfect and the American intervention in the country has caused many other issues for the Afghan
Musician rights trump religion
people, this time was incredibly important for a renewal of their cultural traditions which were oppressed under Taliban rule, but it seems that all of this progress may be set back for a long time now.
This year, shortly after their insurgence against the U.S.-backed government of the capital city Kabul which was under President Ghani’s administration, the Islamic fundamentalist group once again achieved governing power. This has raised serious concerns for the music culture of Afghanistan and those who participate in it, and these fears do not appear to be unfounded, given the context of the Taliban’s previous policies. Across Kabul, the Taliban have smashed at least two pianos and many more instruments at different music studios. At Taliban checkpoints, people are afraid to play their radios. Since the takeover, weddings have limited the amount of music played and many talented Afghan performers are scared to continue playing music publicly since the takeover.
According to current reports there are no outright bans on music in Afghanistan. In fact, Pakistan only gave support to the Taliban in agreement that they would not violate cultural and human rights, including music. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has outspokenly criticized colonial systems and governments for historically doing the very same thing, and believes that the Taliban must do better.
So where are these issues coming from? Well, individual Taliban members are enforcing such “rules” on their own. When the original ban on music came about in the late 90s, the Taliban as a whole cited religion as the reason they banned apparently sinful music. Now, to understand the entirety of the issue, we must approach the Taliban from their religious worldview.
The Taliban subscribe to Sharia Islamic law, a philosophy based on fundamentalist practices of Deobandism, which considers music and dance as irreconcilable with the teachings of Islam, which combines with a very militant devotion to their faith that leads to such harsh punishments. It is within their religious right to not listen or perform music themselves, however, utilizing violence to force others to legally subscribe to your beliefs is never excusable, as it is a violation of both cultural and human rights.
This example illustrates the problem of extreme fundamentalism in any world religion. Historically, when a group takes the most literal and strict interpretation of a religion’s doctrine—without a consideration of context, audience, way it changed over time, medium or style intended by the creator—the outcome is always full of bitterness, violence, hatred and heartbreak. The worst part is, it always leaves traumatized victims in its wake.
The issue is not inherently with Islam. It is not about devout Muslims peacefully seeking out the god they believe in. The problem is the military extremism at the root of the Taliban’s faith, and their enforcement of such extreme beliefs upon other people, as well as the environment that provokes individuals to take matters into their own hands. No musician should have to live in fear of performing. No person should face jail time for enjoying a song. Music, dance and other artistic expression bring beauty to the world, so to strip people of their human rights to express these aspects of themselves and their unique cultures is really the true sin, and in that way the individual Taliban fighters who do so may be the very thing that they attempt to prevent.
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