A deadline for death

There is one obvious takeaway from Arkansas’s chaotic and misguided attempt to execute eight death-row prisoners in a span of 11 days. The death penalty is arbitrary. It is unfair. And it should have no place in the American justice system.

Why these eight men, and why now? All eight had been sitting on death row since at least 2000 — one since 1989, when President George H.W. Bush was in office.

Arkansas had not executed a death-row inmate since 2005 and seemed in no hurry — until the state discovered that its Midazolam, a lethal-injection drug, expired at the end of April. Are drug-expiration dates the new standard of justice?

The timeline laid bare two arbitrary and capricious reasons to take a life — the availability of a controversial execution drug and Arkansas’s desire to beat a deadline. When a life-and-death decision comes down to something so random, we all should be outraged.

Due process is a critical part of the justice system, and we must all be watchful when it is encroached upon. We simply cannot leave open the possibility of getting it wrong in a capital case.

It shouldn’t matter whether you favour or oppose the death penalty. This rush was uncalled for and is yet another reason that the death penalty should be abolished.