丽贝卡·布恩（Rebecca Boone）早在克里斯塔·派克（Christa Pike）被带入田纳西州的执行室之前，监狱高层就已审查并批准了一份备用方案，详细规定了如果首次注射死刑失败时应采取的具体措施。
REBECCA BOONE Long before Christa Pike was brought into Tennessee’s execution chamber, prison leaders reviewed and approved a backup plan detailing exactly what to do if the first attempt at lethal injection failed.
然而，备用方案同样失败了。周四——即24小时后——派克仍然活着，但处于危重状态，正在田纳西州的一家医院接受治疗，尽管她的预后仍不确定。目前尚不清楚究竟哪里出了问题。
But the backup plan also failed, and Thursday — 24 hours later — Pike was still alive but in critical condition at a Tennessee hospital, though her prognosis remained uncertain. It’s not yet clear what went wrong.
根据非营利组织“死刑信息中心”（Death Penalty Information Center，一个汇集美国死刑执行信息的机构）的数据，美国有27个州实行死刑，各州在执行死刑的方式以及向公众隐藏这一致命过程的程度方面差异巨大。
Twenty-seven states have capital punishment, and they vary widely in how they administer the death penalty and just how much of that lethal process they keep hidden from public view, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, a clearinghouse for information on U.S. executions.
在应急预案方面，田纳西州处于中等水平，其执行程序中内置了两重冗余机制。
Tennessee falls somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to contingency plans, with two redundancies built into its execution process.
首先，囚犯应被植入两条静脉输液管。因此，如果第一个静脉输液点失败，执行团队可以切换到第二个输液点。必要时，执行团队中的医生甚至可以插入中心静脉导管——这通常涉及在大腿根部、颈部或腋窝的主要血管上切开一个小口，以便将导管穿入体内，直至靠近心脏的位置。
First, inmates are supposed to have two intravenous lines placed. Thus, if the first IV site fails, the execution team can switch to the second one. A physician on the execution team can even insert a central line — which typically involves making an incision in a major blood vessel in the groin, neck or armpit in order to thread a catheter into the body to a spot near the heart — if needed.
静脉输液管可能因多种原因失效，例如针头和导管未正确放置在静脉内，或发生移位——或者静脉破裂，导致血液和静脉输液液体泄漏到输液点周围的组织中。
Intravenous lines can fail for several reasons, like a needle and catheter not being properly placed in a vein or wiggling out of place — or a vein rupturing and letting blood and IV fluid leak into tissue surrounding the IV site.
田纳西州还允许，如果死囚在首次给药后五分钟仍然存活，可以给予第二次100毫克的戊巴比妥钠。
Tennessee also allows for a second 100 mg dose of pentobarbital to be administered if the condemned person is still alive five minutes after the first dose was given.
田纳西州监狱官员给派克注射了第二次剂量，但不清楚他们是通过主要静脉输液点还是备用输液点进行的注射。
Tennessee prison officials gave Pike a second dose , but it’s not clear if they used the primary IV site or the backup site to do so.
阿拉巴马州的死刑执行方案采用三种药物组合的方式进行注射。如果囚犯在注射第一种药物（镇静剂咪达唑仑）后仍未失去意识，可以追加注射该药物。不过，该方案并未对后续两种药物（罗库溴铵和氯化钾）注射后囚犯仍存活时应采取的措施作出明确规定。
Alabama has a three-drug lethal injection protocol. It allows for a backup dose of the first drug, the sedative midazolam, to be given if the inmate isn’t unconscious from the first dose. But the protocol doesn’t include additional instructions for what to do if the condemned person is still alive after the first dose of the next two drugs, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride.
相比之下，爱达荷州为死刑执行的几乎每一个步骤都制定了应急计划：准备了备用静脉注射部位，允许使用中心静脉导管，并且可以最多使用该州批准的四种死刑药物组合中的任意一种药物，每次注射均可使用全部剂量。
Idaho, meanwhile, has contingency plans for nearly every step of the execution process, with backup IV sites, allowances for administering a central IV line, and up to three full doses of any of the state’s four approved lethal injection drug cocktails.
爱达荷州最近将枪决作为主要的执行方式，但至今尚未通过这种方式执行过任何死刑。即便如此，该州的枪决方案也设有备用方案：如果监狱负责人认为有必要完成执行，她可以在两分钟内下令再次开枪。
Idaho recently made firing squad its primary execution method, though it has yet to kill someone by that method. Still, the state’s firing squad protocol also has a backup plan, with the prison director able to order a second volley of shots within a two-minute time span if she determines it is necessary to complete the execution.
2024年，由于执行团队经过八次尝试仍无法为死刑犯托马斯·尤金·克里奇成功建立静脉注射通道，爱达荷州取消了对其的死刑执行。
Idaho called off the execution of Thomas Eugene Creech in 2024 after execution team members could not place a viable IV after eight attempts .
今年早些时候，田纳西州也因未能找到合适的静脉位置而取消了另一起死刑执行。
Tennessee also called off an execution earlier this year after failing to find a suitable vein for a secondary IV line.
2014年，在约两小时的执行过程中，亚利桑那州的执行人员向约瑟夫·鲁道夫·伍德体内注射了多种致命药物。伍德躺在手术台上时，曾多次喘息（超过600次）。
In 2014, Arizona executioners injected Joseph Rudolph Wood with a lethal combination of drugs 15 times during the nearly two hours it took him to die. He gasped more than 600 times while he lay on the table.
在很多方面，死刑执行过程都被严格保密：执行团队的成员身份、致命药物的采购细节，甚至在某些州，死刑执行室内的具体过程都被隐藏在公众视野之外。
In many ways, executions are shrouded in secrecy . The identity of execution team members, the details about where and how lethal drugs are procured, and in some states even what happens in the death chamber is hidden from public view.
然而，正如所有刑事判决一样，死刑执行也是由政府代表公民来实施的。因此，公众有必要清楚地了解这种终极惩罚的具体执行方式。
But executions, like all criminal sentences, are conducted by the state on behalf of its citizens, so it’s critical that members of the public understand exactly how that ultimate punishment is carried out.
大多数实行死刑的州都允许部分媒体成员代表公众旁观死刑执行过程。执行结束后，这些媒体代表通常会参加新闻发布会，向全世界通报他们所看到和听到的一切。
Most death penalty states allow a few members of the media to witness executions on behalf of the public. Once the execution is over, those news representatives typically take part in a news conference, sharing exactly what they saw and heard with the rest of the world.
只有印第安纳州和怀俄明州明确禁止媒体成员旁观死刑执行。根据死刑信息中心（Death Penalty Information Center）的数据，怀俄明州目前没有死刑犯，自1992年以来也从未执行过死刑。
Only two states, Indiana and Wyoming, explicitly ban members of the press from witnessing executions. Wyoming, with no one currently on death row, hasn’t carried out an execution since 1992, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
去年，包括美联社（The Associated Press）在内的多家新闻机构联合起诉印第安纳州，要求获得旁观死刑执行的资格，但今年6月，联邦上诉法院维持了该州禁止媒体进入死刑执行场的法律。
A coalition of news organizations including The Associated Press sued Indiana last year for a seat in the witness room, but in June a federal appellate court upheld the state’s law barring media access.
在爱达荷州，媒体成员被允许观看死刑犯被放置在担架上、静脉注射药物以及被执行死刑的全过程。然而，美联社等新闻机构仍继续要求扩大媒体采访权限。这些媒体机构请求法官允许他们通过闭路电视监控系统观看药物被注入静脉的过程；目前，这一过程是在死刑执行室旁边的私人房间里进行的，且不对公众开放。
In Idaho, media witnesses are allowed to watch as a condemned person is placed on a gurney, has IVs inserted and is put to death. Yet AP and other news organizations have sued for increased access . The news organizations asked a judge to allow them to watch via closed-circuit monitors as the drugs are pushed into the IV lines, which is currently shielded from public view in a private room beside the death chamber.
一位联邦法官根据美国第九巡回法院的裁决（该裁决认为公众应有权通过媒体了解死刑执行的所有关键环节）命令该州允许媒体进行旁观。不过该州提出了上诉，上诉法院尚未对此事作出裁决。
A federal judge ordered the state to provide that access, citing a 9th U.S. Circuit Court ruling that said the public should be able to view all critical parts of an execution via the press. But the state appealed, and the appellate court hasn’t yet ruled on the matter.
当对派克（Pike）的第一剂死刑药物未能使其死亡时，工作人员拉上了窗帘并注射了第二剂戊巴比妥（pentobarbital）。据在场记者金·钱德勒（Kim Chandler）描述，当窗帘再次拉开时，派克仍在呼吸（甚至发出鼾声），显然仍然活着。最终窗帘再次被拉上，房间内的麦克风也被关闭，但仍然能听到派克发出喘息或鼾声。执行开始近两小时后，媒体成员被带离现场，派克被送往医院接受治疗。
When Pike’s first lethal injection dose failed to end her life, officials closed the curtains and administered a second dose of pentobarbital. When the curtains reopened, Pike was making snoring sounds and was clearly alive , according to AP reporter Kim Chandler, who was one of the witnesses. Eventually the curtain was closed again and the microphone in the room was turned off, but Pike could still be heard making gasping or snoring sounds. Nearly two hours after the execution began, media witnesses were escorted out, and Pike was taken to a hospital for treatment.
许多州（包括田纳西州）都将静脉注射（IV）的过程隐藏在公众视线之外，但允许旁观者通过观察窗观看死刑犯死亡的过程。
Many states, including Tennessee, keep the IV insertion hidden from public view, but allow witnesses to watch through a viewing window as the condemned person dies.
美联社曾与其他媒体机构联合起诉田纳西州，要求允许公众观看静脉注射的过程，并要求在宣布死刑判决之前保持观察室的窗帘处于开启状态。然而今年4月，田纳西州最高法院驳回了下级法院的相关裁决（该裁决本应增加公众的知情权）。
AP was part of a media coalition that previously sued Tennessee to see the IV insertion and to keep the viewing room curtains open until the pronouncement of death. But in April the Tennessee Supreme court blocked a lower court’s order that would have allowed for increased access.
皮克的律师之一史蒂夫·费雷尔表示，皮克因患有长期存在的血液疾病而难以通过静脉注射接受药物；这种疾病使得将针头插入她的静脉变得非常困难。费雷尔认为，静脉注射可能没有成功地将药物注入她的静脉中，药物可能只是积聚在她的手臂里，而并未进入她的血液系统。
One of Pike’s attorneys, Steve Ferrell, said Pike feared that there could be complications because of a lifelong blood disorder that made it tough to get needles into her veins. Ferrell said it was possible that the IV did not enter Pike’s vein properly, and the drug may have filled her arm instead of entering her bloodstream.