Sunday, June 22, 2014

Death penalty leads to perverse scientific experimentation with human subjects, Al Jazeera America article charges amid calls for federal oversight. (See Al Jazeera's "The System" - Episode Six - Juvenile Justice - this evening (Sunday 22 June, 2014. Excellent series. HL);


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Tonight: Episode Six: "The system"; Juvenile Justice; As described by Al Jazeera America:  "In this episode we take a look at the issue of juvenile sentencing, and consider two compelling cases in Michigan that raise the question of whether children convicted of murder should be subjected to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A battle is now waging to decide how to sentence juvenile killers, and what to do with the more than 360 juvenile lifers already sentenced to die in the state's prisons."

STORY:  "Death penalty standards in the US need reform, experts say," by reporter Sarah Kneezle, published by Al Jazeera on June 16, 2014.

SUB-HEADING:  "Experts agree that recent botched executions highlight a need for federal oversight."

SUB-HEADING: "Botched executions bring death penalty under scrutiny in the US.

GIST: "Al Jazeera’s Thomas Drayton spoke about the death penalty controversies in the U.S. with Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, and Christopher Durocher, government affairs counsel for the Constitution Project, for the network’s Sunday night segment “The Week Ahead.” Dieter said that as more manufacturers — especially those in Europe — are withholding drugs, states have been scrambling to find new access, new combinations and with a clear human cost even as states conduct reviews of their own procedures. Dieter added that national standards for best practices and types of drugs used should be issued. “This state-by-state [review] is a bit of an experiment; different states are trying different things, and all of this is with human subjects — we usually don’t allow that type of experimentation.”......... Close to 3,100 inmates await execution nationwide and the U.S. is one of the last Western countries to practice capital punishment. Even the American Medical Association, the American Board of Anesthesiology and the American Nurses’ Association are among groups that prohibit members from assisting in executions. “I don’t know that the U.S. wants to be the last country standing with the death penalty,” Dieter said."

The entire story can be found at:

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/live-news/articles/2014/6/16/national-standardsonimplementingthedeathpenaltyareneeded.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;