Boston College Law Review

Article Title

Beaty and the Beast: A Prisoner’s Due Process Right to Notice of Changes to Execution Protocols

Authors

Colin Chazen, Boston College Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Comments

Abstract

On May 25, 2011, in Beaty v. Brewer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a prisoner’s due process rights do not include the right to notice or to appeal a last-minute change to a state’s method of execution. In doing so, the court established a loophole, permitting states to avoid Eighth Amendment challenges to execution protocols by waiting until the final moment to amend them. This Comment argues that implicit within a prisoner’s right to challenge a state’s method of execution is a due process right to timely notice of changes to that method of execution.

Recommended Citation

Colin Chazen, Beaty and the Beast: A Prisoner’s Due Process Right to Notice of Changes to Execution Protocols, 53 B.C.L. Rev. E. Supp. 159 (2012), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol53/iss6/14