It is not the mechanics of the death penalty, but rather the morality of state killing, that should be the subject of Florida's debate. Lethal injection is no less a human rights violation than electrocution.
All execution methods are gruesome and can go awry.
The condemned still suffer the terror of waiting for their scheduled moment of death. Lethal injection is not always the clinical and painless process claimed by its proponents, as it may require many attempts to locate a vein and result in prolonged spasms and convulsions before death. For example, on the day of Tommie Smith's execution in Indiana in 1996, after searching for 16 minutes for a vein in Smith's arm, the execution team called in a doctor who tried unsuccessfully to insert the needle into the prisoner's neck. After 36 minutes, the team eventually injected the poison through a vein in Smith's foot. By further considering legislation to shorten the appeals process and put executions on a fast track, the Florida legislature would remove safeguards that protect against wrongful executions.