The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution demands that "cruel and unusual" punishments can't be employed for anyone found guilty of a crime.
The term "cruel and unusual" was deliberately broad, with the founding fathers anticipating the inevitability of society's shifting attitudes toward criminal punishment.
South Carolina shifted backwards in those attitudes earlier this week after its Republican governor, William McMaster, signed a bill designed to navigate the state's shortage of drugs for lethal injection.
This weekend, I signed legislation into law that will allow the state to carry out a death sentence. \n\nThe families and loved ones of victims are owed closure and justice by law. Now, we can provide it.— Gov. Henry McMaster (@Gov. Henry McMaster) 1621261525
While the law still allows for death row inmates to opt for lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad, the new law reverses a policy that granted stays of execution for those who chose lethal injection if supplies weren't available. Now, if lethal injection chemicals aren't in supply, the inmates will be forced to choose between shock or squads. If they choose neither, electrocution becomes the default method.
South Carolina hasn't executed anyone in a decade due to a lack of these drugs. The bill's supporters have said that, because the death penalty is legal, the state has an obligation to carry out death sentences.
The Republican-majority Senate initially offered legislation that only allowed for the electric chair, until state Senator Dick Harpootlian, a Democrat, offered an amendment to allow the option of a firing squad, believing this was more humane.
The morbid decision was met with lawsuits from two death row inmates whose appeals have dried up. They argue that because they were sentenced during a time lethal injection was the default, they cannot constitutionally be executed by firing squad or the electric chair.
South Carolina's law revived widespread calls to abolish the death penalty.
The death penalty is immoral. We should end it.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1394292300247937027\u00a0\u2026— Juli\u00e1n Castro (@Juli\u00e1n Castro) 1621265517
The death penalty has no place in a civilized society.https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1394352013211799556\u00a0\u2026— Nina Turner (@Nina Turner) 1621309907
The death penalty is grotesque no matter the method.\n\nWe must abolish it.https://twitter.com/cbsnews/status/1394352013211799556\u00a0\u2026— Jamaal Bowman (@Jamaal Bowman) 1621293090
This is brutal, inhumane, and does nothing to deter crime.\n\nThe death penalty needs to be abolished.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1394292300247937027\u00a0\u2026— Charles Booker (@Charles Booker) 1621272093
Abolish the death penalty.https://twitter.com/JamaalBowmanNY/status/1394430407110692865\u00a0\u2026— Rashida Tlaib (@Rashida Tlaib) 1621293157
There is a shortage of medications used for lethal injection.\n\nInstead of halting the death penalty, South Carolina will force inmates to choose between death by firing squad or the electric chair.\n\nOur lack of humanity is making me ill.— Ryan Chase (@Ryan Chase) 1621276190
Many found support for the death penalty from "pro-life" Republicans to be hypocritical at best.
It is so difficult for me to fathom how anyone could believe that this is compatible with a "pro-life" worldview. I'm heartbroken.\n\nTo quote Bryan Stevenson, the question is not who deserves to die, but who deserves to kill.\n\n@henrymcmaster, there is blood on your hands.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1394292300247937027\u00a0\u2026— Erin Salmon (@Erin Salmon) 1621283178
Pro-life, amiright??https://twitter.com/axios/status/1394292300247937027\u00a0\u2026— k la\u2728 (@k la\u2728) 1621382442
There is nothing pro-life about the death penalty.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1394292300247937027\u00a0\u2026— Shane Claiborne (@Shane Claiborne) 1621399261
It's unclear when the executions will begin.
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