Written by: Tyra Mills

The execution of Ohio prisoner Dennis McGuire has caused a large uproar nationwide.

 Allegedly, his execution took almost 25 minutes to complete, which is completely unacceptable.  He reportedly was choking and gasping for at least 10 minutes.

 Sitting on death row for years at a time must be a hard reality to face, knowing that one day you will be strapped into a chair and put to sleep forever. When that day finally arrives, I’m sure the inmate wants it to be a quick, successful process.

 The fact that there was a malfunction that left McGuire gasping for air for ten minutes is very disturbing. No matter what the crime is, regardless of whether he deserves the death penalty or not, no human being should be forced to choke for ten minutes.

 The minute McGuire started choking is the moment this process became “cruel and unusual”. One may wonder what went wrong. Why did this execution take so long?

 I put the blame totally on the executioners. It’s becoming harder and harder for prisons to get execution drugs from other countries.

 Europe no longer wants to help the U.S. execute prisoners, so they no longer ship their drugs to the prisons here in America. This has caused states to look elsewhere for execution drugs.

 Where are states getting these drugs from? They won’t reveal their suppliers. Have they tested these drugs out, and has there been scientific research done on these drugs confirming there won’t be another mishap?

 I personally do not believe in the death penalty. I believe that no matter the severity of the crime, it is not our place to destroy another life. Though I feel this way, I know the death penalty still exists and will continue existing. 

 The problem is the way these prisons are acting as though these inmates are not human. Throwing together a bunch of drugs and shooting them up a person’s arm hoping that everything goes OK is not right!

 These are not lab rats that scientists experiment on; these are living, breathing human beings!

 Rumors are circulating that some states are thinking of returning to traditional execution processes, such as firing squads. That would be completely barbaric. It is 2014; we should not be returning to the flawed methods of those before us.

 We live in a society that is technologically capable of running scientific tests to determine the best method of executing prisoners on death row. Just because these people are inmates does not mean we should treat them as rubbish.