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.
News & Developments
News
Nov 22, 2024
New Resource: In Era of Secrecy, States Increasingly Restrict Media Access to Executions
On December 18, Joseph Corcoran is scheduled to be the first person executed by Indiana officials in 15 years. For the first time, the state will use a single drug, pentobarbital, which comes from an unknown source and has been known to cause prisoners “excruciating” pain during executions. But no media witnesses will be present to relay what happens to the public. Indiana is an outlier in its policy decision to completely exclude the press from witnessing executions in the state. But a…
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Oct 17, 2024
Idaho Amends Lethal Injection Execution Protocol and Sets Second Execution Date for Thomas Creech
On October 15, 2024, the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) amended its execution protocol and facilities to enable staff to place a central intravenous line, if necessary, to deliver lethal injection drugs to a prisoner. IDOC now has a new execution preparation room in which venous access would be established prior to transferring the prisoner to the execution chamber. This change, and accompanying prison renovations this past summer, came after the February 28, 2024 failed execution of…
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News
Sep 11, 2024
See What Utah Spent on Its First Execution in 14 Years
Taberon Honie was an American Indian from the Hopi-Tewa community whose life was marked by poverty, substance abuse, and generational trauma. His parents were forced to attend Indian boarding schools, which were notoriously abusive and designed to strip Indian children of their cultural heritage. They later suffered from alcoholism and neglected Mr. Honie and his siblings. Mr. Honie first tried alcohol at age 5 and progressed to heroin and meth by the time he was a teenager.
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News
Aug 26, 2024
South Carolina Supreme Court Sets First Execution Date in More Than 13 Years
On August 23, 2024, the South Carolina Department of Corrections announced that the state supreme court has set a September 20, 2024, execution date for Freddie Owens, which would be the first execution in South Carolina since 2011. Mr. Owens was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for the killing of a convenience store clerk in Greenville, South Carolina and he was later convicted in the murder of a cellmate. In a July 31st ruling, the South Carolina Supreme Court decided that the…
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News
Jul 11, 2024
NPR Investigation Reveals Supplier of Texas Execution Drugs Has Multiple Drug Enforcement Agency Violations; Questions Remain Regarding Drug Acquisition in Other States
A July 10, 2024, National Public Radio (NPR) investigation has revealed that Rite Away, a small chain of pharmacies located around San Antonio and Austin, Texas, compounded and provided pentobarbital for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) between 2019 and late 2023 to carry out lethal injection executions. During the same time period, records at the Texas Board of Pharmacy and federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) indicate the pharmacy was cited for multiple safety and…
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