Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
March 2025
We are pleased to attach the latest report on this topic thanks to group member Lesley for the work on compiling it. The situation in US is mixed with the new president wanting to widen the scope of the penalty. To note as ever that China executes more than any other country but statistics are a state secret.
February 2025
In discussions about executions the focus is, naturally enough, on the individual who is about to be put to death. We forget that there are many prison officers who are closely involved with those on death row, sometimes for many years, even decades. This post draws on material produced by the Death Penalty Information Center in the US for which we are grateful. The Salisbury group is focusing on the state of Oklahoma. We are grateful to group member Lesley for the work in compiling this.
Executions can cause prison staff to suffer psychological distress similar to what veterans experience
after war. A 2022 NPR investigation found that corrections officers faced symptoms such as insomnia, nightmares, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, personality changes, and substance abuse – all hallmarks or comorbidities of post-traumatic stress disorder. Of the 16 people NPR interviewed who participated in executions, none supported the death penalty in their wake. Psychologists use the term “moral injury” to describe how committing an act that contradicts one’s deeply held beliefs, such as causing another person’s death, creates a severe psychological disruption. Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell coined the term “executioner stress” to describe the specific mental impact of carrying out the death penalty.
The stress may also extend to guards who do not participate in the execution itself, but develop close relationships with death-sentenced prisoners over the course of decades working on death row. Some corrections officers have remarked that they spend more time with the people on death row than their own families. They may come to see the condemned prisoners as friends, or witness the prisoners’ mental or physical vulnerabilities. In studies, officers have expressed concerns about the arbitrariness of the death penalty, noting that they had worked with many people with life sentences who committed equivalent or worse crimes than the people the officers helped put to death.
The psychological toll of performing executions is not a new phenomenon. Donald Cabana and Jerry Givens both conducted executions in the beginning of the modern era, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and went on to publicly oppose the death penalty. “There is a part of the warden that dies with his prisoner,” Mr. Cabana often said.
Journalist Jennifer Gonnerman researched New York’s last four executioners, who oversaw the use of the electric chair from 1913 through 1963, a period during which hundreds of people were put to death. Several of the men experienced medical issues around the time of executions, such as migraines or fainting spells. One, Robert Elliot, later became a prominent death penalty abolitionist. Two of the men, John Hulbert and Dow Hover, died by suicide.
Yet prison staff have long faced a culture of silence about execution-related trauma. “We don’t talk about it,” said Justin Jones, director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections from 2005 to 2013, who joined the effort to increase the time between executions (see Oklahoma below.) “Correctional officers are public servants on the lowest salaries in state government, and they get home at the end of the day and just absorb it.” NPR’s investigation revealed that some execution team members had never even told their families they participated. “We all knew to keep it silent,” said Catarino Escobar, who worked on the execution squad in Nevada. Mr. Escobar was strapped to the gurney when he played the prisoner during a practice session, and he grew panicked and became convinced he was going to die. NPR found that only one of the officers they interviewed had ever received mental health care related to their position, and even when care was offered, it was “overwhelmingly optional” and “many of them avoided asking for it so as not to seem weak.”
Oklahoma
In this context, unified efforts by corrections staff to address the psychological effects of executions represented a milestone. In March 2024 a group of nine former Oklahoma corrections officials wrote a letter to Attorney General Gentner Drummond and, based on the detrimental impact of the job and the lack of mental health support, asked for an increase from a time of 60 to 90 days between executions. They noted that execution team members experience an increased risk of PTSD, suicide, and substance abuse, and the gruelling preparation schedule puts staff members throughout the prison on edge due to “near-constant mock executions being conducted within earshot of prisoners’ cells, staff offices, and visiting rooms.” With few state resources at their disposal, some employees even resorted to talking with defence mental health experts visiting the prison “about the distress they are experiencing due to the nonstop executions.”
This compressed execution schedule also increases the risk of something going wrong during the execution process because the stress created by each execution compounds the difficulty of an already complex procedure. If even a routine execution can inflict lasting harm on corrections staff, the traumatic impact of a botched execution is exponentially worse. Oklahoma has experienced this harm on multiple occasions and should not needlessly place its hardworking correctional staff at risk of another such mistake.
Judge Gary Lumpkin dismissed these concerns, telling officials that prison staff needed ‘to suck it up’ and ‘man up’. Prison staff were reportedly angered by Judge Lumpkin’s comments that they needed to “man up” and the suggestion that their concerns were not valid. “Anybody that thinks that executing somebody is no problem has not been a part of the process,” said Justin “JJ” Humphrey, the state assembly chair of a criminal justice and corrections committee and 20-year veteran of the corrections department. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals eventually granted the extension request in May.
(Source: Death Penalty Information Centre – December 2024). Image: USA Today.
February 2025
Here is the death penalty report for mid January to mid February thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. It is quite long! That is partly due to a lot of activity in America where executions are proceeding apace and the various executive orders being issued by President Trump.
Another event is the call for the return of the death penalty in the UK particularly by the Reform party. This occurs after a particular murder or murders in this case the dreadful murders of three little girls in Southport last year. Amnesty’s position is that it is never right to inflict a death sentence on someone, it does not act as a deterrent and mistakes cannot be put right if there is a wrongful conviction.
January 2025
We are pleased to attach the latest death penalty report thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling this. Iran features in this report with the suspension of its draconian legislation on women who do not dress appropriately. As ever, we note that China is believed to be the world’s largest executioner of its citizens but details are a state secret.
December 2024
It is gratifying to be able to report some good news concerning the death penalty particularly at this time of year. Yesterday, 22 December, President Biden commuted 37 death sentences turning the sentences into life without the possibility of parole. This, which will be one of his last acts of his presidency, was widely welcomed in the States and elsewhere.
Biden has come some way from his time as a Senator when he championed a bill to widen the scope of the death penalty to a further 60 new offences. It is ironic that some of those who are having their sentences commuted – with a preponderance of Black people – were condemned as a result of his bill.
Part of the reason is the worry about when President-elect Trump takes office in a month or so. Trump put more people to death than the previous ten presidents combined. He is committed to the penalty and with a compliant Supreme Court, there will be little to stop him. Biden said: “In all conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted”.
These are Federal death penalty cases and it does not affect state actions.
Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The local group produces a monthly report on its use around the world.
Sources: The White House; BBC; NBC; ACLU; USA Today
Recent posts:
December 2024
We are pleased to attach our latest death penalty report covering the period mid November to mid December 2024 with thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling this. As ever we must note that China is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined but the details are a state secret. This month saw the toppling of the Assad regime in Syria. People were able to gain access to the prisons where thousands were tortured and executed.
Recent posts:
We are now on Bluesky and Mastodon
November 2024
DEATH PENALTY ACTION FOR NOVEMBER, 2024
This action is part of our continuing campaign calling on the Governor of Oklahoma to issue a moratorium on all executions, and ultimately to move towards the permanent abolition of the death penalty in the state. Letters (preferably) or emails should be sent to Governor Stitt, focusing in particular on the history of racial discrimination within the State and how this has impacted on Oklahoma’s application of the death penalty.
Contact details:
The Honorable J Kevin Stitt
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Capitol
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd; Suite212
Oklahoma City
OK 73105
USA.
Emails can be tried at: https://oklahoma.gov/governor/contact/general-information/contact-the-governor.html which gives access to a form.
Please take this action before the end of November.
Racial Discrimination/Bias in the Application of the Death Penalty in the State of Oklahoma
In 2017 the Death Penalty Review Commission concluded the system in Oklahoma was ‘broken’ and unanimously recommended a moratorium on executions ‘until significant reforms were accomplished’. They also questioned ‘whether the death penalty could be administered in a way that ensured no innocent person was put to death. They made 47 recommendations but it is understood – over 6 years later – none have been implemented.
In 2022 the report Deeply Rooted: How Racial History informs Oklahoma’s Death Penalty’ by Dr Crutcher, Founder and Executive Director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, was issued – and updated in September 2024.
The report places Oklahoma’s death penalty in its historical context of lynchings and mass violence against Black Oklahomans and the forced migration of Native Americans. It documents the historical role that race has played in the State’s death penalty and details the pervasive impact that racial discrimination continues to have in the administration of capital punishment.
The report ties Oklahoma’s use of the death penalty to its troubled history of racial violence and segregation. It observed that Oklahoma was at an inflection point in its administration of the death penalty and argued that, if the State was to establish a fair and humane system of justice, it was crucial to acknowledge and redress the effects of the Jim Crow laws and racial violence that persist into the present day.
Racial discrimination, especially the race of the victim, continues to infect all aspects of the death penalty in Oklahoma. A study of homicides in the state between 1990 and 2012 found that the odds a person charged with killing a white female victim would be sentenced to death were 10 times greater than if the victim was a minority male. Of the 25 executions scheduled between August 2022 and December 2024, 68% involve white victims. Data throughout the report suggest that valuing white victims more than others has resulted in disproportionate punishment for Black defendants who murder white people.
An examination of the age and race of the men scheduled for execution reflects the bias that Black youth are perceived as older and less innocent than white youth. Seven of the 10 Black men set for execution were 25 years old or younger at the time of the crime. By contrast, only one of the 13 white men set for execution was 25 or younger at the time of his crime. Three of the Black men were 20 or younger and one of them, Alfred Mitchell, was only two weeks past his 18th birthday.
Of the 142 people in the U.S. who have been removed from death row because of intellectual disability (following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that their executions are barred), the majority (83%) have been people of colour. This suggests that people of colour, especially Black people, with intellectual disability are at a greater risk of being subjected to capital punishment. Oklahoma has limited the ability for people on death row to seek relief based on intellectual disability. As the report notes, Michael Smith, a Black man, had a documented, lifelong intellectual disability[i]. Despite his medical diagnosis, Oklahoma denied Mr. Smith a hearing on his intellectual disability.
At least five cases of those scheduled for execution in Oklahoma may have involved official misconduct, including Clarence Goode, a Black and Muscogee man set to be executed on August 8, 2024, (but see below) who was convicted after the testimony of a detective who later served time in federal prison for misconduct in other cases. Nationwide, nearly 80% of wrongful capital convictions of Black people involve official misconduct by police, prosecutors, or other government officials.
Native American Sovereignty
The report states that Oklahoma has a history of defying U.S. Supreme Court decisions that would provide some measure of racial justice. For example, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals refused to apply McGirt v. Oklahoma (holding that the State lacked jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by or against Native American people on tribal lands)
In 2020 the US Supreme Court recognised that Oklahoma has continually prosecuted criminal cases in violation of long-standing treaties with Native American tribes. At least 3 Native Americans have been executed in violation of tribal sovereignty, and at least 4 people remain on death row despite these violations.
Thirty-seven Native American men and women have been sentenced to death in Oklahoma, more than in any other state. Two people currently scheduled for execution – Clarence Goode, Jr[ii] and Alfred Mitchell[iii] are Native American.
Sources: Death Penalty Information Centre
[i] my update: executed on 4th April 2024 – despite a 4 to 1 recommendation for clemency from the Pardon and Parole Board
[ii] my update: execution stayed 8th August 2024 pending new date
[iii] my Update: execution stayed 3rd October 2024 pending new date
November 2024
We are pleased to attach the bi-monthly report on the death penalty around the world prepared by group member Lesley. A lot on the US this month as there is a lot of activity, certainly in the southern states, at present. In view of the recent presidential election, it is worth noting that although there is a lot of ‘noise’ about President elect Donald Trump’s desire to ramp up the use of the penalty, what frequently matters is what happens at state level. Who the governor is and his or her attitude to executions matters more than federal attitudes.
Note as ever that China does not feature although it is the world’s biggest executioner, details and statistics are a state secret.
October 2024
The State of Oklahoma has executed the second largest number of prisoners in the US (after Texas) since the re-legalisation of the death penalty in 1976. It has carried out the highest number of executions per capita in the country. It was the first jurisdiction in the world to adopt lethal injection as a method of execution.
The Salisbury group has decided to focus on the state and is writing to Governor Stitt in an effort to persuade him to stop this practice in his state.
There is a wide number of offences which can lead to a sentence of death in the state. First-degree murder is punishable by death in the following circumstances:
In addition, the statute books carry the death penalty for first degree rape, extortionate kidnapping and rape or forcible sodomy of a victim under 14 where the defendant has a prior conviction of a person under 14, although since 2008 capital punishment is no longer constitutional for these crimes.
As of 27th September 2024 there are 33 prisoners on death row in Oklahoma, only one of whom (Brenda Andrew) is female.
Background facts
Oklahoma is one of two States allowing more than three methods of execution – lethal injection (the primary method), nitrogen hypoxia, electrocution and a firing squad. They are to be applied in that order if earlier methods are unavailable or found to be unconstitutional. Nitrogen hypoxia became available as an option in 2015 but to date has never been used in the State. When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous. In the case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is imposed, even if a single juror opposed the death penalty, and there is no re-trial.
Under the constitution of the State, the Governor of Oklahoma may commute a death sentence, but only following the advice and consent of the five-member Pardon and Parole Board. During Governor Lee Cruce’s administration (1911-1915), he commuted every death sentence. Governor Kevin Stitt (pictured) has granted clemency only once (to Julius Jones) during his tenure (2019 – present). This occurred despite 5 (possibly 6) recommendations from the Board. These have included the very recent case of Emmanuel Littlejohn, executed on 26th September 2024.
From 1915 to March 2024, 156 executions took place, three of them of women. Executions were halted for six years. This followed the botched execution in 2014 of Clayton Lockett. There was also a drug mix-up that led to the ‘incorrect’ lethal injection of Charles Warner in 2015.
14 executions have been carried out under the governorship of Kevin Stitt. In the most recent case – that of Emmanuel Littlejohn – there has been a great deal of controversy. The execution took place
despite conflicting evidence regarding his guilt, mitigating evidence regarding his troubled childhood and undeveloped brain at the time of the crime, the admission of some jurors of misunderstanding the implications of a life without parole sentence, and the fact that the Parole Board had voted 3-2 to spare his life. He had always maintained his innocence of the actual killing.
In 2022 a series of 25 executions were scheduled over a 2-year period, with one execution set for nearly every month through 2024. A report was issued by the Death Penalty Information Center tying the State’s use of the death penalty to its troubled history of racial violence and segregation.
The Death Penalty Information Center advises that current research shows that for every 8.2 prisoners on death row in the US in the modern era of the death penalty, one person has been exonerated.
The Reason Foundation Criminal Justice Policy Explainer – Abolishing the Death Penalty gives the following information:
The Foundation also provides evidence of the high costs in the State of the death penalty as opposed to life imprisonment:
Letters may be sent to:
Honorable J Kevin Stitt
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Capitol
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd, Suite 212
OKLAHOMA CITY
OK 73105
Emails can be tried at: https://oklahoma.gov/governor/contact/general-information/contact-the-governor.html which gives access to a form.
Sources: Wikipedia; Death Penalty Information Center; Amnesty International; World Coalition Against the Death Penalty; The Reason Foundation – Criminal Justice Policy
October 2024
We are pleased to attach the latest bi-monthly report on the death penalty thanks to group member Lesley for the work in preparing this. It is worth remembering that the 10 October was the World Day Against the Death Penalty. As usual we note that China is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined but details are a state secret.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 