Idaho passed a new law this week that will allow the use of firing squads to kill death row inmates when it is impossible to do so by lethal injection.
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The new law, which will take effect next July, will give the Department of Corrections up to five days after an execution warrant is issued to determine if lethal injection is available. If it is not, the State will have to carry it out by firearm.
Passed last Monday, the law was endorsed by Idaho Governor Brad Little on Saturday. The latter believes that it will reduce the level of stress on correctional service employees.
“For those who received the death penalty, a jury convicted them for the crimes they committed, and they were legally sentenced to death. It is indeed the responsibility of the State of Idaho to follow the law and ensure the execution of these criminal sentences,” he wrote in a letter obtained by the “Idaho Statesman”. .
Many states in the United States have faced obstacles in obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injection programs, which represent the most widespread form of the death penalty in the country. Pharmaceutical companies want to make sure they are used to save lives, rather than take them.
Idaho will thus become the fifth state to authorize the death penalty by firearm, after Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina. The latter is still awaiting the outcome of a legal challenge to authorize the practice.
Leo Morales, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, for his part believes that the firing squad is “archaic and particularly gruesome” and is asking lawmakers to reverse their decision, calling the measure ” step backwards” in the history of the state, reported the “Idaho Statesman”.
According to the daily, popular support in Idaho for the death penalty is currently at an all-time low.