Arkansas Rushes to Execute 8 Men Using Drug Linked to Painful, Botched Executions

The state of Arkansas is planning to execute eight men within a 10-day period in April—that’s nearly a quarter of its entire death row population. Earlier this month, Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson signed proclamations setting four execution dates for the eight inmates between April 17 and 27, which would be an unprecedented rate of executions in modern U.S. history. Arkansas has suspended executions since 2005 amid challenges in acquiring lethal injection drugs, and lawsuits over the drugs used. Arkansas says it is rushing the executions because the state’s supply of the sedative midazolam will soon expire. For more, we speak with Megan McCracken, an attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.