<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Over the last decade, many death penalty states in the United States have enacted secrecy laws shielding the identity of lethal injection drug suppliers and executioners. Death penalty defense lawyers, legislators, and scholars have examined the constitutionality and efficacy of these laws. However, little attention has been paid to the history of death penalty secrecy and its relationship to existing secrecy statutes. This article analyzes that history and relationship. It describes a surprising pattern of openness and transparency about the identities of executioners and others involved in America's capital punishment process. Current lethal injection secrecy laws break with that pattern and cast a virtually unprecedented shadow over the execution process. This article concludes by assessing the consequences of the recent intensification and expansion of execution secrecy.</p>
</abstract>

Over the last decade, many death penalty states in the United States have enacted secrecy laws shielding the identity of lethal injection drug suppliers and executioners. Death penalty defense lawyers, legislators, and scholars have examined the constitutionality and efficacy of these laws. However, little attention has been paid to the history of death penalty secrecy and its relationship to existing secrecy statutes. This article analyzes that history and relationship. It describes a surprising pattern of openness and transparency about the identities of executioners and others involved in America's capital punishment process. Current lethal injection secrecy laws break with that pattern and cast a virtually unprecedented shadow over the execution process. This article concludes by assessing the consequences of the recent intensification and expansion of execution secrecy.

A Dark Shadow: The Intensification and Expansion of Lethal Injection Drug Secrecy

Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science at Amherst College

British Journal of American Legal Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Over the last decade, many death penalty states in the United States have enacted secrecy laws shielding the identity of lethal injection drug suppliers and...

A Dark Shadow: The Intensification and Expansion of Lethal Injection Drug Secrecy

Publié en ligne: 29 avr. 2023

Pages: 1 - 26

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2023-0006

Mots clés
Death Penalty, Secrecy Statutes, Executioners, Methods of Execution, Lethal Injection

© 2023 Austin Sarat et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A Dark Shadow: The Intensification and Expansion of Lethal Injection Drug Secrecy

Publié en ligne: 29 avr. 2023

Pages: 1 - 26

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2023-0006

Mots clésDeath Penalty, Secrecy Statutes, Executioners, Methods of Execution, Lethal Injection

© 2023 Austin Sarat et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Death Penalty, Secrecy Statutes, Executioners, Methods of Execution, Lethal Injection