Edgar Arias Tamayo & the Cost of Killing

The execution of Edgar Arias Tamayo raises issues of fundamental fairness and a willingness to comply with obligations bigger than state law (Photo Credit: NationalJournal.com).

The execution of Edgar Arias Tamayo raises issues of fundamental fairness and a willingness to comply with obligations bigger than state law (Photo Credit: NationalJournal.com).

By Andrea Hall, Mid Atlantic Regional Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator

How much is it worth to keep executions moving forward? What is the price of our machinery of death? In addition to the expense that is above and beyond keeping a prisoner jailed for life, there are the intangibles – the toll on the families of both the victims and the condemned, as well as on the prison staff, and the cost of perpetuating the cycle of violence in our society.

In the case of Edgar Arias Tamayo, executed tonight in Texas, the price may be much higher. We may very well have put our relationships with foreign countries, as well as the safety of Americans living and traveling overseas, at risk.

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“Anyone Who Witnessed That Execution Will Never Forget”

An activist fasts with other death penalty opponents in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

An activist fasts with other death penalty opponents in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

By Abraham J. Bonowitz, State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Delaware & Ohio for Amnesty International USA

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life. Further, AI considers death row itself to be cruel and unusual, setting aside that an execution method which does not deliver death within seconds might be better termed “death by torture.”

What else can you call it when witnesses describe a prisoner coughing, snorting, and heaving against his restraints for upwards of 20 minutes before finally dying? This is exactly what happened last week when Ohio executed Dennis McGuire.

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GA Determined To Execute An Intellectually Disabled Man

Late afternoon on July 3 when the least possible number of people would be paying attention, using a new law that makes the acquisition of execution drugs a state secret,  Georgia scheduled the execution of Warren Hill, who is now set – barring intervention from the US Supreme Court or the Georgia Attorney General – to be put to death on July 15.

Georgia authorities did this despite the fact that:

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