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Published at www.nejm.org January 7, 2008 (10.1056/NEJMe0800032)

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This spring the U.S. Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees¹ will rule on the constitutionality of the three-drug regimen currently used for lethal injection in most state executions. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits punishment that is "cruel and unusual." The central question before the Court in Baze is whether the use of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride violates that constitutional prohibition.

The heinous nature of the crimes committed by Ralph Baze and his coplaintiff, Thomas Bowling, is not in doubt. What the Court will decide is whether the current lethal-injection protocol does or does not . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

This article (10.1056/NEJMe0800032) was published at www.nejm.org on January 7, 2008. It will appear in the January 24 issue of the Journal.

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