‘Surreal spectacle’: US botched 35% of execution attempts this year

The gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP

As 2022 draws to a close, a new grim distinction can be attached to it: in America it was the year of the botched execution.

In its annual review of US capital punishment, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reveals the astonishing statistic that 35% of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematic.