This Second Edition of the State-by-State Risk Index serves as a guide for companies concerned about execution secrecy laws and the implications for commercial enterprises and public health. The Index…
Lynn PasternyNovember 24, 2020
A laboratory that was revealed last week to have been testing the purity of a lethal-injection drug for the U.S. Department of Justice has said it will no longer test…
Blaire AndresJuly 20, 2020
In April of this year, the state of Nevada agreed to relinquish its supply of drugs intended for executions to the pharmaceutical companies who manufactured them as part of a…
Lynn PasternyApril 27, 2020
On April 13, 2020, Governor Ralph Northam signed into law a bill ending execution secrecy in Virginia. This significant development marks a major victory against lethal injection secrecy in the…
Lynn PasternyApril 27, 2020
On April 9, 2020, a group of prominent medical practitioners and health experts sent a letter to corrections departments warning that many of the sedatives and paralytics used in executions…
Marta BylicaApril 23, 2020
In May 2019, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) published an opinion determining that drugs intended for use in lethal injections are not…
Marta BylicaJanuary 31, 2020
Federal Court Stays Four Executions, Ruling Newly-Adopted Federal Execution Protocol Likely Unlawful
On November 20, 2019, the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction barring the Federal Government from carrying out four executions scheduled for December 2019…
Blaire AndresDecember 9, 2019
Ohio’s Governor DeWine announced on August 1, 2019 that he will be delaying the execution of Warren Henness in the state due to challenges in obtaining execution drugs and the…
Pauline AssarssonJuly 31, 2019
A secrecy bill that would have rendered confidential information about the source of the state’s execution drugs stalled earlier this year in Louisiana’s Senate judiciary committee following engagement by pharmaceutical…
Pauline AssarssonMay 11, 2019
Arkansas legislator warns execution secrecy measure will harm companies; fuel black market for drugs
In a hearing in the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee earlier this month for a bill seeking to shield the states’ drug supplies in secrecy, Representative Andrew Collins raised concerns that…
Pauline AssarssonApril 24, 2019
Several companies that manufacture drugs used in the Ohio death penalty have spoken out in opposition to the misuse of their products in executions, raising more questions about whether the…
Pauline AssarssonApril 23, 2019
Two pharmaceutical companies, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Fresenius Kabi USA, have objected to legislative efforts to expand the secrecy surrounding the source of Arkansas’ lethal injection drugs, saying the proposal would…
Pauline AssarssonApril 23, 2019
On January 25, 2019, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued a temporary reprieve to death row inmate Warren Henness in response to a judicial ruling that Ohio’s lethal injection cocktail will…
Blaire AndresJanuary 25, 2019
by Prahsant Yadav Read more at the Houston Chronicle When we’re sick, we are at our most vulnerable. So, it’s vitally important that we can trust the medicines our doctors…
Blaire AndresDecember 17, 2018
At oral arguments in Bucklew v. Precythe on November 6, 2018, Supreme Court Justices appeared troubled that a lethal injection execution could cause “gruesome and brutal pain” for a Missouri…
Pauline AssarssonNovember 6, 2018
On September 28, 2018 a District Court judge in Nevada granted a preliminary injunction to American pharmaceutical company Alvogen, prohibiting the use of the company’s drugs in lethal injection executions…
Pauline AssarssonSeptember 25, 2018
Journal of the American Pharmacists Association - September 2018 by Prashant Yadav, PhD, Visiting Scholar, Global Health and Social Medicine Harvard Medical School; Rebecca Lynn Weintraub, MD, Assistant Professor of…
Blaire AndresSeptember 1, 2018
Arkansas prison officials announced earlier this month that they were halting their search for lethal injection drugs, a move that means that the state is unlikely to put any inmates…
Blaire AndresJuly 18, 2018
On July 10th, 2018, the American pharmaceuticals company Alvogen sued the state of Nevada to prevent the use of its medicines in an upcoming execution. The lawsuit sought the return…
Blaire AndresJuly 11, 2018