Executions
Lethal Injection
Though lethal injection has been used for a majority of the executions carried out in the modern era, it is plagued by problematic executions and controversy.
DPIC Report: Behind the Curtain
Secrecy and the Death Penalty in the United States
Overview
All states and the federal government use lethal injection as their primary method of execution. Jurisdictions use a variety of protocols typically employing one, two, or three drugs. Most three-drug protocols use an anesthetic or sedative, followed by a drug to paralyze the inmate, and finally a drug to stop the heart. The one and two-drug protocols typically use an overdose of an anesthetic or sedative to cause death.
Although the constitutionality of lethal injection has been upheld by the Supreme Court, the specific applications used in states continues to be widely challenged prior to each execution. Because it is increasingly difficult to obtain the drugs used in earlier executions, states have resorted to experimenting with new drugs and drug combinations to carry out executions, resulting in numerous prolonged and painful executions. States are also turning to previously discarded forms of execution, such as the electric chair and gas chamber, in the event that lethal drugs cannot be obtained.
At Issue
Even though the issues surrounding lethal injection are far from settled, states are attempting to cut off debate by concealing their execution practices under a veil of secrecy. Recently passed laws bar the public from learning the sources of lethal drugs being used, making it impossible to judge the reliability of the manufacturer or the possible expiration of these drugs.
What DPIC Offers
DPIC has state-by-state summaries of the methods of execution currently in place and the types of drugs used in each execution in the past ten years. A recent DPIC report covers the execution secrecy laws that have been imposed in many states. Statements from various pharmaceutical companies barring the use of their drugs in executions are also provided.
Jul 27, 2018
Public Health Experts, Generic-Pharmaceuticals Association Warn Lethal-Injection Policies Put Public Health at Risk
State lethal-injection practices may have collateral consequences that place public health at risk, according to briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on July 23, 2018 by public health experts and an association representing generic drug manufact…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Arbitrariness
May 31, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of May 24, 2021
NEWS (5/24 and 5/26/21) — Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Supreme Court issued rulings in two death-penalty cases, denying a defense p…
United States Supreme Court
May 12, 2021
In ‘Netherworld’ Between Law and Reality, Nebraska Prosecutors Continue Pursuit of Death Penalty
The legislature doesn’t want capital punishment, the executive branch can’t obtain execution drugs, and Nebraska prosecutors have moved forward this year with the pandemic-delayed capital sentencing trials of two defendants separa…
Costs
Apr 15, 2021
Arizona DoC Paid $1.5 Million for Execution Drugs While Facing a Budget Crisis
At a time in which the Arizona Department of Corrections is facing criticism for crumbling infrastructure, substandard medical care, and understaffing, the department has spent $1.5 million to purchase the lethal-injection drug pe…
Lethal Injection
Mar 11, 2021
Civil Rights Groups Accuse California District Attorneys of Unlawfully Interfering in Death Penalty Lawsuit
Five civil rights organizations have asked a California appeals court to block the efforts of three county district attorneys to lift stays of execution agreed to by the state as part of a federal-court settlement of death-row pri…
Lethal Injection
Mar 08, 2021
Arizona Department of Corrections Says It Is Ready to Resume Executions
Arizona corrections officials have announced that the state has procured a supply of an execution drug and is now able to resume executions after a nearly seven-year hiatus. David Shinn, director of the Arizona Department …
Lethal Injection
Mar 04, 2021
Evenly Split Indiana Supreme Court Affirms Ruling Requiring Release of Execution-Drug Records
An evenly divided Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed a trial court ruling that requires the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) to release records related to the lethal injection drugs Indiana has used in carr…
Recent Legislative Activity
Mar 01, 2021
Legislators in South Carolina, Montana Seek to Change Execution Methods to Allow Executions to Resume
Frustrated by the inability to put prisoners to death, legislators in two states are seeking to jumpstart the execution process by changing the laws that govern how executions may be conducted. After gaining little traction in prior legislative se…
Intellectual Disability
Mar 01, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021
NEWS (2/25/21) — Alabama: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has denied habeas relief for Alabama death-row prisoner Charles Clark, who the trial court had sentenced to death based upon a non‑u…
Lethal Injection
Feb 26, 2021
Federal Bureau of Prisons Sanitized Execution Reports, Omitting Disturbing Details Observed by Media Witnesses
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials repeatedly misrepresented accounts of the executions they carried out in 2020 and 2021, providing sanitized descriptions of the executions that omitted all references to dramatic body move…
Lethal Injection
Jan 08, 2021
ProPublica Investigation Reveals Irregularities in Federal Executions
The federal government’s historically aberrant execution spree has been fraught with irregularities and “has trampled over an array of barriers, both legal and practical,” according to an investigative report by the non-profit news organization,
