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.

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

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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Five vials of clear liquid, varying sizes. One is on its side with a syringe in it.

News

Jul 02, 2024

Federal Execution-Drug Supplier Says It Will No Longer Produce Pentobarbital for Executions

Connecticut-based com­pa­ny Absolute Standards, which was iden­ti­fied as the source of lethal injec­tion drugs used in 13 fed­er­al exe­cu­tions in 2020 and 2021, has said it will no longer pro­duce the drug used in exe­cu­tions — pen­to­bar­bi­tal. In a let­ter to two Connecticut law­mak­ers, John Criscio, pres­i­dent of Absolute Standards, said the com­pa­ny ceased pro­duc­ing pen­to­bar­bi­tal in December 2020, and has no inten­tion to resume any pro­duc­tion or sale of pen­to­bar­bi­tal.” Mr. Criscio’s let­ter explains that…

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News

Jun 06, 2024

Idaho: New Death Sentence, Updates on Executions, and Lethal Injection Drug Purchase

On June 1, 2024, an Idaho jury sen­tenced Chad Daybell to death for the 2019 mur­ders of his first wife and his sec­ond wife’s two youngest chil­dren. Mr. Daybell plead­ed not guilty to mul­ti­ple first-degree mur­der, fraud, and con­spir­a­cy charges, but after being found guilty, he chose to waive his right to present mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence dur­ing his sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. With this deci­sion, Mr. Daybell declined the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­vide the jury with rea­sons why he should not be sen­tenced to death.

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