Stake-burners, injectors, and criminal justice

 K. Cronick

“Tennessee woman Christa Pike has been hospitalized after surviving two lethal injection doses administered by state officials on Wednesday evening, marking the second botched execution in the state this year” (Zohang, 2026). This is a headline in a Truthout reporting about another blotched capital punishment. But the point is not, really, if the procedure was blotched, or if Ms. Pike was guilty or not. She was (is) guilty. The problem is whether we want to kill people, too, or have them killed in our collective names. Unless we reconsider the implications of lethal criminal justice, we are not very different from the people who used to burn people at the stake.

Reference:

Sharon Zhang (2026. October 1). Christa Pike Hospitalized After Surviving 2 Lethal Injection Doses in Tennessee. Truthout. https://truthout.org/articles/christa-pike-hospitalized-after-surviving-2-lethal-injection-doses-in-tennessee/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUrpw9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7Zfgdr231Gljwl4CdRHPr5kdOSjrYmoRWA1WfJRF7Q0FS-uQbOKQZ-fVE-nA_aem_1qHi4pvdUMWAZ4bOVJfp9g