I was just curious why it takes so long for people to be executed once they’ve been sentenced. I feel like sometimes it takes years on years .
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Because you can’t undo an execution. So there is time to allow for appeals and further investigations to potentially exonerate.
The person to be executed is also often throwing every appeal or delaying tactic at the system they can (guilty or innocent), because people don’t usually want to die.
While it costs a lot to imprison a person for a couple of decades prior to execution, a wrongful death suit from executing someone 10 days after sentencing and then having video evidence showing them at a different location at the time of the crime on day 11 is more expensive. And you’ve executed an innocent person. Generally known as murder.
Appeals. Executions don’t have any “take backs”, so you best allow for the process to play out before you send someone off to thier final destination.
Because it’s such a serious punishment, most jurisdictions that allow it have many procedures that must be followed before it’s carried out. (The subject is already in prison, so not much risk to waiting.) That means that all appeals must be decided before the execution happens. In the US, that often means a series of state court appeals, followed by appeals to federal courts for alleged violations of federal rights. Each one may take months or years to resolve (courts are overwhelmed). It’s not really in anyone’s interest to accelerate this: the convict lives as long as this happens, and they’re already in prison so the state is happy for the time being.
We want to pretend really really hard that we are making sure it’s the right person. Sometimes, good roleplay takes time.
Which country? In Iran for example [you can be hanged within 2 weeks of sentencing](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/5217424.stm).
Usually, appeals.
Killing someone is a final sentence, so you need to get it right. But Not every one can agree it was done right the first time, so there are a lot of process to appeal the decision and say “Hey, I don’t think this was done fairly” or “I need a second opinion” or “It doesn’t warrant death!”. So, it has to go back to the courts to get looked at again. But trials are not rushed, because you need to give people time to research, write up, and study the evidence. Plus, you need to schedule time in the court house, and they’re already busy with other cases, so the next free spot may not be for weeks or months for each of the several important steps.
Basically, its too important to mess it up, so you don’t want to rush it. If there’s ANY chance the person is *Actually* innocent, you need to take every opportunity to double check your work.
Alabama has 163 inmates on death row, so far in 2024 three have been executed. The list only grows.
They have to exhaust the appeals process first.
That means requesting appeals from numerous higher courts and asking elected officials for stays, pardons, etc.
Since a death sentence is final, they usually look at these requests very carefully, and examine all the evidence, original trial, everything to make sure that there are no indications that the person isn’t actually innocent. Because if they are, there are no take backs on an execution.
An appeal can be granted for all kinds of reasons. Maybe the cops mishandled evidence, or a higher court judge disagrees with a ruling the trial judge made, or new technology allows existing evidence to be interpreted in a new way. Anything like that can be grounds for an appeal.
Any appeals that are granted have to go to trial. If the person is still convicted, they stay in prison and petition higher courts for more appeals. If they win, they go free. Eventually, they will exhaust all of their potential appeals and will be executed, but that usually is a decade or more after they were originally convicted.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Evans
This is a clear case study of why the death penalty is always the wrong choice.
If you put someone in jail who turns out to not be guilty, you can un-jail them.
If you kill someone who turns out to not be guilty, you can’t un-kill them.
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