Executions Ordered Days Before Inauguration
Sydney Corley ‘22 Staff Writer
President Trump’s insensitive decision to move forward with the executions of five prisoners on Death Row before the inauguration on January 20 has stirred much controversy regarding the morals of condemning someone to the death penalty. Despite protests and petitions, Brandon Bernard and Alfred Bourgeois were executed in December 2020 — the first two of the final five executions scheduled. The last three executed included Corey Johnson, Dustin John Higgs and Lisa Montgomery, all of whom met with a repugnant fate in mid-January.
Before Bernard’s execution on December 10, 2020, many people were attempting to get petitions viewed by President |
Protesters of the death penalty outside the US Justice Department in Washington, DC on December 10, 2020.
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Trump. Kim Kardashian was an advocate for Bernard’s case and made it known to her followers that she believed Bernard should not have been sentenced to death. However, Trump was unresponsive and moved forward with 13 scheduled executions since July 2020, a record-breaking number. The rush to execute the remaining prisoners sentenced to death stems from the fact that the Biden administration is opposed to the death penalty and will likely never hold an execution. The number of executions Donald Trump has scheduled and carried out continues to push past ethical and moral standards, diving into inhumane waters.
Standards, diving into inhumane waters. Dustin Higgs, an African-American man born in Laurel, Maryland, was unfairly executed by lethal injection on January 15, just five days before the inauguration of Joe Biden. Higgs was convicted of capital murder of three women: Tamika Black, Tanji Jackson and Mishann Chinn. All three were Sydney Corley ‘22 Staff Writer Executions Ordered Days Before Inauguration shot near the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The research center was built on federal land, which set the precedent for Higgs to be tried by the federal government instead of the state government.
However, Higgs did not wield the murder weapon that killed these three women, which has encouraged many to consider if he is deserving of the death penalty as a punishment. Willis Mark Haynes is responsible for the death of the three women, yet he was given a life sentence without parole. Maya Hunn, a senior at Howard High School, believes that the sentence of Dustin Higgs is both unfair and unlawful. She also concluded that, though Higgs’ actions were truly despicable, it is inequitable that Haynes be granted a life sentence compared to Higgs’s unjust death sentence.
Moreover, the way in which the death penalty is done has been a contributing factor to the opposition of capital punishment. Through this punishment, a person may be put to death from the following: Hanging, electrocution, gas chambers, firing squads and, more recently, a lethal injection. The injection was created by Julius Mount Bleyer in 1888; however, it was first adopted in Oklahoma in 1977. The lethal injection was created to be both cheaper and more humane; however, the pain felt from the injection is described as being buried alive. Maddie Sims, a junior at Howard High School, states, “I think any way [the death penalty] is done is inhumane.”
Standards, diving into inhumane waters. Dustin Higgs, an African-American man born in Laurel, Maryland, was unfairly executed by lethal injection on January 15, just five days before the inauguration of Joe Biden. Higgs was convicted of capital murder of three women: Tamika Black, Tanji Jackson and Mishann Chinn. All three were Sydney Corley ‘22 Staff Writer Executions Ordered Days Before Inauguration shot near the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The research center was built on federal land, which set the precedent for Higgs to be tried by the federal government instead of the state government.
However, Higgs did not wield the murder weapon that killed these three women, which has encouraged many to consider if he is deserving of the death penalty as a punishment. Willis Mark Haynes is responsible for the death of the three women, yet he was given a life sentence without parole. Maya Hunn, a senior at Howard High School, believes that the sentence of Dustin Higgs is both unfair and unlawful. She also concluded that, though Higgs’ actions were truly despicable, it is inequitable that Haynes be granted a life sentence compared to Higgs’s unjust death sentence.
Moreover, the way in which the death penalty is done has been a contributing factor to the opposition of capital punishment. Through this punishment, a person may be put to death from the following: Hanging, electrocution, gas chambers, firing squads and, more recently, a lethal injection. The injection was created by Julius Mount Bleyer in 1888; however, it was first adopted in Oklahoma in 1977. The lethal injection was created to be both cheaper and more humane; however, the pain felt from the injection is described as being buried alive. Maddie Sims, a junior at Howard High School, states, “I think any way [the death penalty] is done is inhumane.”