Indiana shrouds executions in secrecy, defying long tradition of...

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

54% : The unusual secrecy is the result of state laws shielding information about the death penalty, and some First Amendment advocates and death penalty experts say the lack of transparency during the gravest of government punishments is alarming.Media witnesses play a crucial role in executions by providing the public with independent, firsthand and factual accounts of an execution, said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
50% : Kris Cundiff, an Indiana attorney working with the Reporters´ Committee for Freedom of the Press, said executions represent the "apex of government action.""Carrying out a death sentence is arguably the ultimate exercise of state power and state authority," Cundiff said.
48% : From public hangings in the town square to lethal injections witnessed by journalists, executions historically have mostly been carried out with at least some public scrutiny.
48% : "Media ensures government accountability and transparency in an otherwise closed and secretive process," Maher said.
46% : "To determine whether lethal injection executions are fairly and humanely administered, or whether they ever can be, citizens must have reliable information about the 'initial procedures´ which are invasive, possibly painful and may give rise to serious complications.
43% : Formal descriptions of lethal injections by prison officials are sometimes sanitized compared with the detailed accounts offered by journalists.
41% : A sign is posted outside of Indiana State Prison where, barring last-minute court action or intervention by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Joseph Corcoran, 49, convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other people, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection before sunrise Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Michigan City, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)For Corcoran's execution, journalists gathered outside the prison hoping to glean as much information as possible.
41% : Wyoming has executed one person in the last half-century, killing Mark Hopkinson by lethal injection in 1992.
41% : A sign is posted outside of Indiana State Prison where, barring last-minute court action or intervention by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Joseph Corcoran, 49, convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other people, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection before sunrise Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Michigan City, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
39% : Over the next 1,800 years, death sentences were often carried out by public crucifixion, drowning, beating, burning or impalement.
39% : Today the vast majority of the 27 states with capital punishment and the federal government recognize the need for public oversight via media witnesses.
35% : That will not be the case in Indiana early Wednesday, when Joseph Corcoran is set to be put to death by lethal injection without any independent witnesses present.
33% : Federal executioners who put 13 inmates to death by lethal injection during the last months of the Trump administration likened the process to falling asleep, while reports by the AP and other outlets described how the condemned persons' stomachs shuddered as the pentobarbital took effect.
20% : A guard stands in a tower at Indiana State Prison where, barring last-minute court action or intervention by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Joseph Corcoran, 49, convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other people, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection before sunrise Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Michigan City, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)Officials deliver a paper statement outside of Indiana State Prison where, barring last-minute court action or intervention by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Joseph Corcoran, 49, convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other people, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection before sunrise Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Michigan City, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)Officials deliver a paper statement outside of Indiana State Prison where, barring last-minute court action or intervention by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Joseph Corcoran, 49, convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other people, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection before sunrise Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Michigan City, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)Joseph Corcoran is led to the City-County Lockup on Aug. 26, 1999, in Fort Wayne, Ind., after being sentenced to death in the slayings of four people in July 1997.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.