I’m currently working in the USA, where it was reported yesterday that Texas had just carried out its 500^th execution. There was no celebration to mark that particular milestone, from what I could see, but it certainly grabbed my attention and got me thinking.

The subject of the execution  was a youngish woman who had been convicted of murdering a neighbour some 16 years ago in 1997. I have no idea of the circumstances of the case but it seems that her guilt was confirmed after several appeals and reviews. They may well have got it right but they may not and that, for me at least, is the big caveat as far as the death penalty is concerned.

However, irrespective of whether or not you believe in the death penalty, does it not  seem somewhat cruel and barbaric to keep a person on death row for 16 years after they were convicted of the crime? Either carry out the execution straightaway or abolish the death penalty altogether. To keep somebody on death row, indefinitely in some cases, seems to me to be nothing short of inhumane.